


Static on the Radio

by AniPendragon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Artistic License - Geography, Eventual Smut, M/M, On Hiatus, Prosthetics, Romance, Swearing, The Author Did Plenty of Research, some drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-28 11:24:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6327079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AniPendragon/pseuds/AniPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>ON HIATUS</b>
</p><p> </p><p>  <i>And baby we’ve got miles and miles still to go.</i></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Qrow Branwen was looking forward to seeing his nieces in Sacramento, but without a car, he has no idea how to get across the country in two weeks. James Ironwood has a car, and a reason to go to Sacramento – his own daughter – but doesn’t want to make the trip alone. When their paths cross one night in a bar, the two agree to make the journey together. What starts as a matter of convenience quickly grows into something more as the two get to know each other, and there might be more than just friendship blossoming between the two.</p><p>After all, when the radio’s nothing but static, what else can you do, but talk?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Brown Sugar Oatmeal

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to #4 of my Ironqrow AUs, this one is inspired by The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal aka the greatest webcomic of all time. While I've drawn inspiration for the fic from there, particularly in the set-up, let me assure you that these are two completely different stories with completely different plots, backstories, and outcomes.
> 
> I'm hoping to keep this mostly geographically accurate with the help of my love of research. But, let's face it, I'm Canadian. Some shit is gonna be different. Hopefully it doesn't bother any of you too much. Feel free to send corrections!
> 
> This is my first actually E rated multi-chapter Ironqrow fic, and there's a very, very good reason for that. I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. And yes, I am still plugging away at _You and Me (and Everyone in Between), In the Public Eye_ and _We're All in This Together_. I am capable of working on them all, I assure you.
> 
> Cheers! And remember, comments are love.

James threw back another shot and leaned over the bar, sighing softly. Over and over the words from his earlier phone call rang in his head. The call from Glynda, who was currently looking after his daughter, Penny. Summer was fast approaching and Penny was looking forward to spending it with him. He’d been gone for almost two months now on business. Too long, in his opinion. And he was currently halfway across the country, having just finished up his business in Detroit.

Thankfully, summer didn’t start for another two weeks for Penny. He had time to get to her. Which was especially handy, seeing as he couldn’t exactly get on a plane to get to her.

Well, technically he could, but between his extensive prosthetics and airport security, he always ended up being strip searched and gawked at. While Schnee Corp chartered private planes for his work just to avoid that problem, this was personal business, which meant commercial flights. Which meant strip searches and questions about his anatomy from underpaid and over-curious airport security.

Frankly, it was amazing he hadn’t ended up clocking one of them yet. At least Schnee kept the gossip out of social media and gossip rags when it came to him. Small miracles.

James threw back another shot and tried to relax. He had a company car with him. It wasn’t a big deal to drive to Penny, really. But a weeklong drive, alone, didn’t appeal to him in the slightest. He spent enough time alone as it was.

“Another, please,” said James, waving down the bartender. The guy, a big, burly man named Junior, poured him another shot and slid it to him. He threw it back and grimaced. Sighed again.

“You all right, man?” asked Junior. “Haven’t seen someone throw back this much whiskey since…” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Since that time Roman tried to drink Nigel under the table, come to think of it.”

James raised an eyebrow. “What happened?” he asked.

Junior snorted. “You ever seen a man projectile vomit whiskey?” James wrinkled his nose and shook his head. Junior chuckled. “Count yourself lucky. I had to clean him up afterward.”

“Why not just send him home?” asked James.

Junior raised an eyebrow. “I’m kind of married to the guy. _My_ home is also _his_.”

“Fair enough,” said James. He traced the rim of his shot glass. He signalled for another and Junior poured it. Afterward, he seemed to realize James wasn’t going to talk and left, but not before leaving the bottle behind at James’ signal.

James started at the bottle, a little bitter. Why couldn’t Schnee just give him a damn chartered flight back home? All he wanted was to see his daughter. After everything he _did_ for the company too.

James poured shot after shot, downing them with little concern for his well-being. The world began to sway sometime around when the bottle was half-empty, and James found himself squinting at a guy at the end of the bar. He almost looked like he had red eyes, but James had to be seeing things.

“Where’re you headed, after this?” Junior asked at some point.

“Sacramento,” said James. “Halfway across the country in a damn car.” He groaned, the world tilting around him. Swore he saw the guy with red eyes look at him.

But then the world was going dark, and James had no idea what happened after that.

* * *

 

James awoke to a pounding headache that had him seeing stars and tasting metal. With a groan, he pressed his hand over his eyes to block out the – presumably morning – sunlight. Squinted, opened one eye, and checked the clock in his hotel room.

_9:37 am,_ it read. He groaned again and sat up, rubbing his face. Cracked his neck and licked his lips. _Ugh._ Bitter with alcohol and probably vomit. The whole night after those last few shots was a blur. He didn’t remember how he’d gotten home, or much of anything in the darkness. Just Junior’s voice, warm with concern, and a pair of red, red eyes.

The pounding in his head made it hard to stand, but James managed it anyway. He gripped the windowsill next to his bed, vaguely aware that he was still in his button-up and slacks from the night before. With his free hand – the left one – he combed his fingers through his hair and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

Coughing, James headed to the bathroom door. He didn’t bother with the lights – they were too damn bright when he _wasn’t_ hung over – and set to work on making himself look mildly presentable.

Twenty minutes later, when he was showered, dressed, and had brushed the bitter aftertaste from his mouth, he stepped out into the living space of his hotel room. Immediately, he saw the red-eyed man from the bar sitting on his couch with a bowl of oatmeal in his hands.

“What are you doing in my hotel room?” asked James, rubbing his hand over the side of his face.

The man held up the bowl and spoon, mouth half full. “Eatin’ your oatmeal,” he said. “And seriously, brown sugar? Come on, apple cinnamon is the true king of oatmeal flavours.”

James squinted at him and sat down in the desk chair. “Oh god,” he said, quietly. “Please tell me we didn’t…” He trailed off and grimaced.

The man snorted. “Nah, you were black out drunk. I don’t touch that shit. If you can’t walk straight, you can’t consent, ya feel me?”

James nodded, a weight from his chest lifting. Fair enough. Although, that didn’t answer his question. “Then, what are you doing here?” asked James.

“I dunno how much of it you remember,” said the man. “But we got talking last night at the bar. We’re both headin’ to Sacramento. You don’t wanna make the trip alone and I no longer have a car to get there.” He shrugged.

James blinked. “What happened to your car?” he asked.

“Long story,” said the man, waving him off with a half full spoon of oatmeal. He stuffed the spoon in his mouth. “Anyway, you and me? We said we’d head there together.”

James sighed and put his head in his hands, the entire world pounding around him. He vaguely remembered their conversation from the night before. Remembered his drunken ramblings about not wanting to spend a week on the road alone, even if he did want to see his daughter. Remembered muttering something dark about nosey airlines, but closing up before saying anything else. _Thankfully_. He tended to be a bit too chatty when he got that drunk.

Then, he remembered telling the man that they should go together. That it’d be nice to have the company.

James looked up as the man stuck out his hand to him, having crossed the room while he was thinking. James took it, noticing that the metal hand didn’t get a reaction. Must have seen it last night then.

“Qrow Branwen,” said Qrow. “If you don’t remember.”

“James Ironwood,” said James. _Branwen._ He knew that name. “In case I never told you.” Qrow grinned at him.

“Pleasure to meet you.” He had a slight drawl about him when he spoke like that. One that made James wonder where he was from.

“I know the name Branwen,” said James, slowly.

Qrow’s grin widened. “That’d be my sister, Raven. She lives in Sacramento.”

“Right,” said James, straightening a bit. He winced, head pounding. “She has two daughters – Ruby and Yang. And her partners…” His head pounded again. He pressed his hand to the side of it, wincing again.

Qrow nodded. “Taiyang and Summer,” he said. “My in-laws. How did you…?”

“My daughter, Penny, is friends with them,” said James. “She’s always talking about Ruby this, Ruby that.” He caught himself smiling, and noticed Qrow’s grin had dropped into a more genuine smile.

“Well then,” said Qrow. “Guess we both got family we’re trying to get back to.”

James nodded, one hand still pressed to his head. Mind drifting as he thought of getting back to Penny. She was going to be ten this year, and he’d been away longer than he hoped. It was frustrating, to say the least. At least he’d be there for her birthday, which was in August. She’d like that.

A cup of coffee was placed in front of him and James looked up to see Qrow watching him, brow furrowed above his red eyes. And he kept coming back to those eyes, James noticed, and how they stood out above everything else in the grey-black-brown blur that was last night.

“No offense,” started James and Qrow snorted. “But how do I know you’re not lying to me?”

Qrow reached into his back pocket and pulled out a phone. He winked at James and tapped at it before bringing it up to his ear.

“Hey,” he said after a few moments’ pause. “Yeah, Raven, I’m coming, I’m coming. Listen, I got a ride – met him at a bar last night.” A pause. Qrow rolled his eyes. “No, he’s not a ‘stranger’.” He did air quotes with his free hand and James fought a smile by sipping his coffee.

Qrow continued, “James Ironwood, yeah, you know him.” Qrow smirked at whatever she said. “I have _no_ idea.” The drawl in his voice made James nervous. “Listen, he wants to makes sure I’m not some kind of serial killer or something, can you vouch for me?”

He handed the cell off to James, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

“Raven?” he said.

_“Hey, James, good to hear from you,”_ said Raven on the other end. It was her. James would know that drawl – which he now realized Qrow shared – anywhere. _“Listen, Qrow’s my twin – the nomad I was telling you about.”_

James nodded. “Yeah, I remember you talking about him.” He did, in fact. The extent of it was basically that. The nomadic Qrow, who went from apartment to apartment, couch to couch, across the country. James had no idea why, or how, or even what Qrow did. He knew his name and he knew his family. That was it.

He and Raven talked for another minute before he passed the phone back to Qrow, who was smiling.

“Thanks, Raven,” he said. He cocked an eyebrow at James. “Yeah, should see you in two weeks, with any luck. I’ll take a bus if I have to. Cheers.” Then he hung up and set his phone down.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, James nursing his coffee and hoping the churning of his stomach would fade.

“Well?” said Qrow. “I proved who I am. So, am I coming with you?”

James thought about it amidst the pounding in his head. He had told Qrow he could come. He didn’t want to make this trip alone. And, more than that, he wanted to leave today (he had to check out in less than two hours) and he wasn’t in any shape to drive.

“Can you drive a standard?” asked James after a moment.

Qrow grinned. “Trained on one, besides, I drove you home, didn’t I?”

James nodded. “All right,” he said. He took a deep breath. “All right. Let me pack up and we’ll get going.” Qrow nodded and James stood. He grabbed the desk with his metal hand, grimacing at the sudden rush of dizziness about his head, and stumbled back into the bedroom.

He sat down hard on the edge of the bed for a minute, head in his hands, and took a few deep breaths. When the world stopped spinning, he stood up, grabbed all his things, and stuffed them into the laptop bag and suitcase he had. He double checked the sleeves of his light, long sleeved shirt – still pulled down to the wrist – and hefted everything up.

Qrow was wearing a backpack when James reappeared in the living space. He had his thumbs stuffed in the pockets of his jeans.

“I need to check out,” said James. “Then you’ll need to drive.”

Qrow cocked an eyebrow. “Sure, you all right?”

James nodded and led them out of the hotel room and toward the elevator. “Fine,” he said. “Just hungover to all hell.”

Qrow let out a snort of laughter. James glanced sideways to see Qrow grinning up at him while they waited. “Oh, we’re gonna get along great,” said Qrow.

James smiled at that. Well, at least the man had a sense of humour. That’d make this whole journey much more pleasant.

Check out was simple enough, and then Qrow was leading James to wear his car was parked – there weren’t valets at three in the morning, apparently. They threw their things in the trunk, James tossed Qrow the keys, and then they were leaving the parking lot.

As they drove out of Detroit, James slumped against the window, eyes half-closed. He was grateful for the handful of clouds pockmarking the sky. They blocked out the sun from this angle.

“You’re not going to drive us into a ditch if I take a nap, are you?” asked James.

“Nah,” said Qrow. He flashed a grin at James. “Get some sleep, Jimmy. I’ll wake you up when we stop.”

James rolled his eyes. “It’s James.”

“Whatever you say, Jimbo,” said Qrow, grinning even wider. James rolled his eyes and settled in for a nap.


	2. Diner Grease and the Frenchiest of Fries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!

When James awoke, he had no idea where he was for a minute. He knew he was in his car, well, technically the one SchneeCorp had loaned him, in the passenger’s seat, somewhere in the middle of America. The driver was one Qrow Branwen, a man he’d known for less than twenty four hours, and whose sister he had tea with on Sundays while their daughters played together.

He grimaced, mouth cotton dry and faintly bitter with fading frustration and regret, and pushed off the window to sit up straight. They were… somewhere. James didn’t recognize the side road they were on, dotted with occasional houses and trees. He squinted, trying to find a sign, and found nothing.

“Where are we?” asked James, though it came out more as a rasp.

“Just outside of Fort Wayne,” said Qrow.

James nodded and checked the dashboard clock. Then he checked it again. “It took you over three hours to get to Fort Wayne?” he asked, looking at Qrow. “Without rush hour traffic?”

Qrow shrugged, fingers drumming on the wheel. “I don’t like highways. I drive enough of them for my day job.”

James hummed and tilted his head back in his seat. “Fair,” he said. “I feel the same way about fancy hotel food, believe it or not.”

“Oh, I can,” said Qrow. “So, you wanna stop for food, or to pee or something, or keep going?”

“We should probably get lunch,” said James. His stomach growled as if to accent the point. He folded his arms behind his head and stretched his back as best he could, feeling it pop back into place. “Then… I suppose we should figure out where else to go after this. Lot of choices in Indiana. Maybe Indianapolis.”

Qrow grinned. “You know, I’ve never actually been there outside of work. Could be fun.”

“What do you do for a day job?” asked James. He wondered if he was keeping Qrow from something, but then, Qrow was the one who’d wanted to come with him back to Sacramento. Probably on vacation or something, trying to get home to his family.

Qrow shrugged again. “Trucker. Don’t have my own truck, so I rent from other companies. That’s why I’m a nomad – I couch surf on other truckers’ couches. Send all my money home.”

“Sounds like quite the job,” said James.

“Eh, you drive a lot. Meet a lot of interesting people. Sleep a lot less than you should,” said Qrow. He shrugged a third time. James wondered if he was aware of the gesture, or if it was just a tic.

“Do you like it?” asked James, tilting his head to look at Qrow.

Qrow smiled, his eyes soft and distant as he stared out at the mostly empty road. “Yeah,” he said. “Wouldn’t trade it for the world.” He tilted his head for a moment to turn that smile on James and James caught himself returning it.

“I know that feeling,” said James, his voice just as soft. He looked out his window, watching the sights go by. The streets were growing steadily more urban, marking their way into the heart of Fort Wayne.

“Oh yeah?” asked Qrow. He chuckled. “Good. Means you like what you do. Speaking of which, what _do_ you do, anyway?”

“I used to be mostly research and development at SchneeCorp – I’m trained as a mechanical engineer and a chemist,” said James. “With some dabbling in teaching and history as well.”

“Damn,” said Qrow, letting out a low whistle. “And I thought getting my GED was impressive.”

James felt the back of his neck flush. “Oh, it definitely is,” said James quickly. “I just always had the mindset for university and learning, I suppose. It’s not for everyone.” A pause. “Not that you _couldn’t_ do it, if you wanted to…” He trailed off, tongue heavy in his mouth.

Qrow laughed. “Nah, I couldn’t,” he said. “And you’re right, it ain’t for everyone. Hell, only thing I thought of when I was that age was getting the hell out of dodge. But then, me and Raven grew up in a place a lot more conservative than Sacramento.”

James nodded. He’d been lucky, like that, growing up in a relatively liberal place in Washington. Even if his father hadn’t been the best, his neighbours had, and James had gotten out from under the man’s shadow relatively early in life.

It helped that he’d always had his late mother’s maiden name, instead of his father’s, come to think of it.

“You didn’t finish answering,” said Qrow after a moment of silence. “You said you ‘used to’ do mostly R&D. Now what do you do?”

James peeled off his glove slowly as he spoke. “I’m the head of the prosthetics department now, which mostly means travelling, altering new designs, and improving upon existent and experimental technology.” He held up his metal fingers. “I’m also the face of the department,” he added, voice a touch dry.

Qrow chuckled and turned a corner. “Yeah, I saw the hand last night.” A pause, then, “This place okay?” He paused in front of a diner and James nodded. It looked decent enough. They pulled into the parking lot before Qrow spoke again.

“It’s a pretty cool hand,” said Qrow, getting out of the car.

James shut the door and followed Qrow to the diner entrance. “It’s a lot more than just my hand,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” asked Qrow. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked up at James, head tilted to one side. “How far? Arm? Shoulder?”

James held open the door for Qrow. “Try my entire right side,” he said.

Qrow let out a low whistle and led them to a booth. James took one side and Qrow took the other. A waitress nodded to them and grabbed a pair of menus.

“What can I get you two?” she asked. James tucked his hand under the table before she could see it – his right arm was the one furthest from her, but he’d forgotten his glove in the car.

“Coffee, hamburger, and…,” said Qrow with a grin. He paused for dramatic effect. “…Your _Frenchiest_ of French fries.”

The waitress giggled. “Anything else?”

“Coffee,” said James. “And a club sandwich, no tomatoes.”

“Sure thing,” said the waitress. She grabbed their menus and was gone again.

James turned his attention back to Qrow. “Frenchiest of French fries?” he echoed.

“Shut up, I know what I said,” said Qrow, a laugh in his voice. “So, whole right side? Damn, what does flying do to you?”

“If I’m on business, not much,” said James. “SchneeCorp gets private shuttles for me to most of my business ventures – no issues there.” He sighed, remembering the argument with Mr. Schnee himself only a day before. “The problem is trying to get home. Because I have time off, and no business in Sacramento, SchneeCorp won’t finance my flight home. Which would mean commercial flights.” He grimaced.

Qrow quirked an eyebrow.

“Strip searches,” mumbled James, putting his left hand over his face. “And invasive airport employees.”

Qrow winced in sympathy. “Starting to see why you hate flying.”

James chucked and rubbed the back of his neck, ignoring the embarrassed flush working its way up his jaw. “So,” said James, clearing his throat. “You know my reason – what’s your excuse?” His eyes flicked across Qrow’s short-sleeved and form fitting shirt. “You aren’t hiding prosthetics too, are you?”

Qrow shook his head, but the amusement in his expression had been replaced by embarrassment. “Nah, um, I’m scared of flying, actually.” He didn’t look at James.

With a raised eyebrow, James asked, “Isn’t your last name Branwen?”

Qrow rolled his eyes and planted his arms on the table, stabbing a finger at James. “Yes, my name is Qrow Mc- _Freaking_ -Crow and I hate flying. You wanna fight about it?” There was a playfulness in his voice as he spoke the last words. A quirk of his mouth and a light in his eyes that made James smile.

With a laugh, James raised his hands in surrender. “Not in the least. Just thought it was interesting.”

“You and my entire nosy ass family,” said Qrow. “Raven _loves_ heights. _Lives_ for shit like that.” Qrow shuddered. “No, thank you. Rather keep both feet on the ground.”

“Oh?” asked James. The waitress came by again, dropping off their coffees. James smiled a ‘thank you’ at her before turning back to Qrow, who was dumping sugar packets in his coffee as though his life depended on it. James wrinkled his nose.

“How can you _drink_ that?” asked James.

Qrow rolled his eyes. “It’s only five sugars, Jimmy.”

“James.”

“Whatever,” said Qrow. He waved James off. “Anyway, flying is just unnatural. If people were meant to fly, we’d have wings, ya know? If I’m gonna fly, I’m gonna do it with something I can control, not some damn magic machine that could break down at any given moment.”

James sipped his coffee – black – and revelled for a moment in how horrified Qrow looked. Then, “That is fair, if a little entertaining.”

“Says the tin man with a private jet,” muttered Qrow. There was a split second of panic in his eyes as he seemed to register what he said, but James only chuckled.

“Mm, true enough,” he said. Qrow seemed to relax a bit at his casual response. He looked up and noticed a little girl staring at his shining hand over the back of Qrow’s seat. James lifted his hand and wiggled his fingers. The little girl gasped and raised her own right arm – pink and quite a bit less advanced, but prosthetic all the same – and gave a gap-toothed grin at him. James smiled back.

Qrow raised an eyebrow and looked up just in time for the girl to hop back around and disappear.

“Kid?” guessed Qrow.

“How did you-” started James.

Qrow shrugged. “You’re a dad, aren’t you? Dads smile at kids like that and for nothing else. Trust me, I know a few.”

“Good dads, anyway,” said James before he could stop himself.

Qrow’s expression softened. “Tell me about it,” he muttered. The two fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes until their food arrived, and then conversation was mostly on the food – it was great – the jukebox – someone had played “Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” six times before they unplugged it and seriously, _what diner_ had that song on its jukebox? – and on the various people who came in and out of the diner. Qrow made up some elaborate story about how the two men in suits were secretly Men in Black, which made James laugh so hard he drew looks.

By the time they’d finished lunch, James’ hangover was gone and he was in good spirits. They paid, tipping generously, and headed back into the car.

“I’ll drive,” said James. Qrow shrugged and tossed him the keys. “How do you feel about Indianapolis? I know we mentioned it earlier. There’s no big races this week, but the motocross league should be doing time trials.”

Qrow grinned as he climbed into the car. “Sounds fantastic,” he said. “Mind staying off the highways? Unless we’re in a rush, that is.”

“Not at all,” said James. “We’ve got two weeks. We’ll be fine. Besides, I’m with you on that front, I do love the scenic route.” He pulled out of the diner parking lot, plugged “Indianapolis” into the GPS, and followed it out of the city. “So, what do you think, radio?”

Qrow grinned and punched it on. Immediately _Back in Black_ began to blare out of the speakers and Qrow rolled down a window, head thrown back as he sang along to the music. He was absolutely _abysmal,_ but James couldn’t find it in him to care. He just laughed, sang along with Qrow, and followed the map out of the city and toward their next stop.


	3. Traffic Jam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back! This one is pretty short, but the point of Static on the Radio is to be a low conflict, high characterization story, with lots of fun moments and relationship development.
> 
> So, cheers!

The drive to Indianapolis wasn’t supposed to be horrendously long, by James’ standards, but between the hang over, the horrific traffic jams, three separate construction sites, and arguing with the GPS, he and Qrow ended up on the road for the predicted three hours, and were only two thirds of the way there.

James drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, leaning back in his seat as he waited for traffic to clear. There was a fallen log on the road up ahead, and emergency services were working on cutting it away. James would have turned around and gone another way, but the GPS insisted this was the only non-highway route, and he was determined to keep his agreement with Qrow.

No highways. Just lots and lots of waiting. And trees.

Far too many trees. He hadn’t seen this many pine trees since the Christmas tree farm last winter.

Penny had wanted the tallest one in the farm, because of course she did. James had argued her down to something that could fit in the house, then helped her decorate the big pine tree out front anyway. It had taken three days to put all the lights up. Most of them were still in that tree, come to think of it. But considering the cord was green, and they didn’t plug them in except at Christmas time, he didn’t think any of the neighbours had noticed.

“Well, this is gonna take a while,” said Qrow, leaning back in his seat. He stretched his arms behind his head and groaned. “Got any ideas?”

James sighed. “No.” He drummed his fingers on the wheel again. Stared at the traffic and worked his jaw. They weren’t in a hurry, he knew that, but god he hated waiting for no reason.

Static burst from the speakers as Qrow flicked on the radio. He winced and immediately shut it off again. “Damn. No stations.”

“No satellite,” supplied James. He thought he might have had a cord for his phone somewhere, but he wasn’t sure if the music was to Qrow’s taste.

“Hrm,” said Qrow. He leaned back in his seat again. From James’ position, he could see Qrow looking at him through his choppy bangs. “Three questions.”

James blinked. “What?”

“Three questions,” said Qrow. He grinned at James. “I ask you three questions, you ask me three questions. By the time we get out of traffic, we’ll know each other pretty well. What do ya say?”

“Sure,” said James. “Why not?” He could always refuse a question if it got too personal, after all. Besides, it would be good to learn more about Qrow. He knew very little about the man, except that he was a trucker, the brother of a good friend of his, and he hated flying. Which he still thought was rather funny.

“Okay, first question – how old are you?” asked Qrow.

James snorted. Of course it’d be something that simple. “Thirty-two,” said James.

“Huh, really? You got kind of a hot middle aged dad thing going on,” said Qrow. He shrugged and James tried not to stare. He had a _what now?_

“Okay, next question. Favourite band – oh and song by said band,” said Qrow.

James thought about it. “I have no idea,” he admitted. “A lot of what I listen to is kids’ pop music and 80s rock. That’s what everyone around me likes.”

“Really?” asked Qrow. “Nothing?”

“Not that I can think of,” said James, shaking his head. “What about you?”

“ACDC, Shoot to Thrill,” said Qrow easily. He grinned at James. The cars inched forward and James sighed, easing the car forward ten feet before stopping again.

James nodded. “I think I know that one,” he said. “Maybe.”

Qrow gave a scandalized gasp. “Gasp!” he said, and James stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Had he really just…? “Where’s your phone; you’re buying this song right now.”

“Qrow!” James started. Qrow swung around, legs in the air as he tried to dig into the back seat. Behind James, a car honked as the line started moving again. Casting a look at Qrow’s wiggling hips – and swallowing hard – James started forward again, wincing slightly when Qrow toppled back into his seat.

“Hey!” protested Qrow. The phone dropped back onto the back seat of the car and James sighed as he crept the car forward.

“You still have two more questions,” said Qrow after a moment.

James nodded. “So I do.” He thought about it, drumming his fingers on the wheel as they kept creeping forward. “Favourite place you’ve ever lived?” he asked.

Qrow let out a low whistle. He tapped his chin a few times. “Sacramento, hands down.” He shrugged and folded his arms behind his head. His elbows bumped the ceiling of the car. “S’part of why I’m going back. It’s a good place – has good people too.”

“When did you move there?” asked James. He glanced from the slow moving traffic to Qrow again, one eyebrow raised.

Qrow hummed. “Raven and I took off just after we turned sixteen. Probably took us almost a year to get to Sacramento.” He shrugged. “She never left. Me? I’ve always liked to wander.”

James nodded. He wondered just what had forced them to “take off” so to speak. From the brief conversation in the diner, he figured it was the same reason he’d disappeared into university and never gone back – parents. His mother had always been lovely, but his father… James shook it off.

He didn’t have to think about it anymore, he reminded himself. And he hadn’t thought about them in years.

“All right, my turn again,” said Qrow. “Favourite person.”

“My daughter, Penny,” said James easily.

Qrow snorted.

“What?” asked James. He glanced at Qrow. “You have kids?”

“Nah,” said Qrow, shaking his head. “Nieces, but they’re my favourite people too.”

James thought about Ruby and Yang, who he’d known for almost two years now. They were wonderful children. He’d always enjoyed babysitting them and spending time with them whenever Penny wanted to see them.

“All right, next question,” said Qrow, tapping his chin. James shook his head, smiling, and slowly inched his way forward as he and Qrow traded questions with one another. When they were finally free of the traffic, James had learned that Qrow hated mayonnaise, loved barbeque sauce, and had wanted to be an astronaut until he’d realized he was terrified of flying. In return, James told him that he loved feta cheese, hated sauerkraut, and had wanted to be in the military as a kid.

He didn’t specify why that had changed, nor had Qrow asked, and James had been grateful. The two kept on, driving and chatting, until they finally reached Indianapolis.

* * *

 

The motel was on the edge of the city, and James was grateful. The rest of the city was loud and rambunctious, and he was starving. The sun had already gone down by the time they reached the motel, and James stretched and rubbed at his right shoulder as they padded into the room.

“Day one, complete,” said Qrow, flopping back on one of the two queen sized beds. “God, I’m starved.”

James sat down more gingerly, wincing. The junction points of metal and flesh were on fire, and the cold ache from his arm had James wanting to scream. Between the hangover, the lack of proper sleep, and the long car ride, James had pushed his body too far, too fast.

“You okay, Jimmy?” asked Qrow.

“James,” murmured James, but his voice was barely there. He went to stretch and his entire body lit on fire. He groaned, hand going to his head. “Fine. It just… happens sometimes.” He blinked, the world tilting as he did so. “Do me a favour?”

“Sure, sure,” said Qrow. James heard the shift as Qrow stood up from the bed. “What do you need?”

“Pill bottle on the dresser, next to my keys,” he said. He kept his head down and eyes half closed. The overhead light clicked off and the lamps clicked on. Then, there was a shuffling of clothing and then the rattle of a pill bottle.

James glanced up. In the dim yellow light, Qrow held out the little bottle to him, top already off. James gave a grateful smile and shook out two of the pills, swallowing them dry. He shifted, laying down on the bed and letting his eyes slipped closed. Pain bloomed from his right shoulder and collarbone, spreading down his spine and lingering on the junction point between his hips. His brain kept trying to tell him that his right hand was at his side, even though he knew he was resting the cool metal on his forehead, and a headache split his skull.

“Food?” asked Qrow.

James managed a shaky nod. “Go grab whatever looks good. I’ll be here.”

“Sure thing, Jimmy,” said Qrow. James didn’t even have the energy to protest the nickname. “Just stay safe, all right?”

“I will,” said James, his voice hoarse. He kept his eyes closed, drifting around in his pain, and heard the door open and shut. Once Qrow was gone, James curled up onto his left side and cradled his pounding head in his hands, facing away from the light.

By the time Qrow got back, he was fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	4. Breakfast Platter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the speedway and a call from Penny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

James awoke with a fuzzy mind and the sun coming up through the window. He squinted, raising one hand to shield himself from the morning light. Immediately, his entire body stiffened and screamed in protest, shouting at him as he tried to sit up. He blinked hard, rubbing at his eyes, and looked over at the bed four feet from him, where Qrow lay, burrowed in pillows and blankets, passed out. He was drooling, mouth open, and he was laying on his stomach, obviously shirtless.

James swallowed hard and forced himself to his feet, swinging off the bed and stumbling into the bathroom to take a shower. He allowed himself to stand under the spray for a while, resting his head against the tiles with his eyes closed. He took a few deep breaths, letting the hot water pull the tension out of his body.

When he got out of the shower, he spent far too much time drying himself off before getting back into his clothes. The right shoulder was still damp, but there wasn’t much he could do about that. At least he’d recently upgraded his casings so that they were solid, instead of having revealed joints and power cells.

Opening the door, James saw that Qrow was waking up. He sat, legs folded, in the middle of his bed, rubbing at his eyes. He had a scattering of tattoos and scars across his torso, drawing James’ attention, but while he wanted to ask, he figured it was probably rude.

He bit his lip, averting his gaze as Qrow stretched, cat-like, and gave an obscene groan. Oh, that was a nice sound. A very, _very_ nice sound.

James cleared his throat. “So, breakfast?” he asked, looking at Qrow again.

Qrow opened his eyes. They were half-lidded and sleep groggy, squinting at James like he wasn’t quite sure what was real and what wasn’t.

“Yeah,” said Qrow, voice low and hoarse with sleep. James swallowed. “Gimme ten minutes to shower.” With that, he stood, revealing that he was wearing only a pair of oversized, banana print boxers, and disappeared into the bathroom.

James shook his head and packed up, trying not to think about the naked man less then twenty feet away from him.

* * *

 

The two ended up in a nearby diner for breakfast, tucked into a booth in the corner and arguing quietly about whether the platter with extra bacon or the platter with bacon _and_ sausage was better.

“You have to have a variety of meats to better appreciate the flavour of the dish, Qrow,” said James. He stabbed a piece of cut-up sausage as if to emphasize his point.

Qrow snorted and spun his bacon through his pancake syrup. “Nah, if you have pancakes, you gotta go with just bacon. Let’s you mop up the syrup and go Canada style.”

“Canada style?” echoed James, raising an eyebrow.

“Maple syrup on _everything_ ,” said Qrow, grinning around a piece of bacon. He chewed and swallowed, tongue darting out to lick the syrup off his lips. James let his gaze flick down to his watch. It was a little after nine in the morning now, and if they wanted to get back on the road today, they needed to finish site-seeing before about three.

James cleared his throat and skewered a piece of egg onto is fork. In the background, the sounds of other patrons, the drawl of the wait staff, and the jukebox playing N’Sync’s “Pop” – James was a little surprised he knew the song – mingled together until it formed a low buzzing of background noise that was almost comforting in its consistency.

“So, did you want to do a little site-seeing today?” asked James.

Qrow nodded, his cheeks bulging with pancakes he hadn’t bothered to cut up. “Yeah,” he said, once he swallowed. “Let’s check out the speedway, I heard from one of the waiters that they’re running practices today. Maybe we’ll see something interesting.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said James. “We’ll go after we finish eating.”

Qrow grinned. “Race ya,” he said.

James rolled his eyes, but still, he said, “You’re on.”

* * *

 

An hour later, and stuffed with more food than he should have probably eaten, James was pulling into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway parking lot. It wasn’t packed, which didn’t surprise James. The main race of the season was over and practices were typically a closed affair. However, with a few well-placed text messages and his connections, he’d managed to score an invitation to today’s closed practice, which had a handful of Indy racers mingling about.

He and Qrow headed into the speedway, Qrow’s eyes wide and James feeling more than a little pleased when he flashed his cellphone and the guards had let him through. Then they were passing through the tunnels and coming out level with the track.

A car zipped by, loud and whining as it swung around a corner. Qrow jumped.

“That is incredible,” breathed Qrow.

James nodded, grinning. “Isn’t it?” he asked.

“James Ironwood, I’m assuming,” said a man, jogging up. “Good to meet you. Did you wanna take a look around?”

“Sounds good,” said James. He saw the way Qrow was staring at the cars that went by, a look on his face that could only be described as hunger. “Actually, I don’t suppose we could get him into one of these cars?”

Qrow stared at James, a slow grin spreading across his face. “Can I?” he asked.

The man nodded and slung an arm around Qrow’s shoulders. “Sure, let’s get you suited up.” As the two walked off, James’ cell rang, and he waved off Qrow and the man as they walked off. He ducked back into the tunnel, away from the track, and answered his phone.

“Hello?”

“Father!” came Penny’s cheerful voice. “How are you?”

“Hi, Penny. I’m well,” said James. “I’m in Indianapolis right now, actually.”

A giggle. “Oh, that sounds very nifty!” said Penny. James felt himself grinning. Penny’s warm, squeaky voice always made him feel better. Made all of life’s problems seem a little bit smaller. She was his _daughter_ , and he was still in awe that he had such a wonderful child.

“It is,” said James. “I’m travelling with a man named Qrow – your friends, Ruby and Yang, are his nieces. He’s enjoying himself.” James saw Qrow, in full race gear now, heading for one of the Indy cars. He smiled to himself and leaned against the barrier. “So, tell me what you’ve done this week.”

“Well, Auntie Glynda took me to the history museum and I learned about ari- agri-” Penny took a deep breath over the phone. “A-gri-cul-ture.” She sounded out each syllable as she spoke. “And then we made homemade jams! And then Uncle Ozpin took me necklace and skirt shopping for the pride parade next month. They were very nice. We got matching pink and purple skirts, and they bought three bead necklaces. One in agender colours for them, one in bisexual colours for Auntie Glynda, and one in trans colours for me!”

James smiled. “That’s wonderful Penny, speaking of, have you taken your medicine today?”

“Yes, Father,” said Penny. “Mr. Xiao Long and Mrs. Rose are taking me and Ruby and Yang to the street magicians downtown today, and then we are going to get ice cream and sit on the docks.” She was silent for a minute. “Father, when will you be home?” asked Penny.

“Two weeks, Penny,” said James, softly. “I’ll be home in two weeks. Then you and I can spend the summer together.”

“And I can meet Mr. Qrow?” asked Penny. In her most serious voice, she said, “I have to make sure that your new friend is up to my standards.”

“Oh?” asked James. He looked out at the track just as the car Qrow was in sped by. It moved with such fluidity that James almost didn’t know it was Qrow. The man looked like he belonged on a race track. Driving around fast enough to terrify most people, but the car never stumbled or shuddered or faltered.

James chuckled. “What standards are those?” he asked.

“He must give good hugs and smell nice,” said Penny.

James grinned. “Of course,” he said. He switched the phone to his other ear. “Penny, I should get back to Qrow so I can keep driving, is that all right?”

“Yes, Father,” said Penny. “We are leaving in two minutes. I love you.”

“I love you too, Penny,” said James. “Goodbye.” When Penny said “bye”, James hung up and tucked his phone back into his pocket, before stuffing his hands into them and strolling back out onto the track.

Qrow skid the car to a stop not fifty feet from James and clambered out, pulling off his helmet and grinning like a loon.

“You have _got_ to try this,” said Qrow.

James felt a spike of ghost pain drive down the reconstructed portion of his spine. “I’ll pass,” he said, voice a bit tight. “You want to keep driving, or is it time to go?”

“Nah, yeah, let’s head out,” said Qrow. “Gimme five.”

James waited at the edge of the track while Qrow finished up with everything. He checked his emails almost absently, not really paying attention to them. He was on vacation, after all. His eyes lingered on one email from Schnee, which was apologetic without being apologetic at all, as he explained, again, that James couldn’t use company money to travel outside of work. And that he was being _very_ generous by letting James use a company car – a favour he hinted that he wanted paid back.

James rolled his eyes and jammed his phone back into his pocket. Schnee could kiss his ass. The man didn’t approve of where he lived, who he associated with, or how he spent his free time. But Schnee could spend a fraction of a fraction of a percent of company money to let James drive home.

Quietly, James vowed to use the company credit card at all the diners he could. Claim it under travel expenses.

Wasn’t like Schnee would – or could – protest them – too many people in finance liked James better and would pass on the document without Schnee and without question.

Qrow reappeared, flushed and grinning, and James felt his mouth go dry.

“Ready to go?” asked Qrow. He was a touch breathless, voice slightly gravellier than before, and James shook off a sudden slew of inappropriate thoughts.

Two weeks in a car with Qrow. It wouldn’t do well to ruin that with a one-night stand. Besides, Qrow was the twin brother of one of his closest friends. That was a _huge_ no-no, especially when he knew barely anything about the man.

“I’m driving,” said James. Qrow pouted. “After I saw you on the track, I’m worried we’ll get speeding tickets.”

Qrow laughed and patted James on the back before jogging ahead. “Put it on company money!” he called over his shoulder.

It took James a second, but he realized his keys were missing. He patted his pockets and looked at Qrow, who paused, turned around, and winked, holding up the keys.

“Come and get ‘em,” said Qrow. With narrowed eyes and a growing smile, James took off after Qrow. He was _not_ letting a speed demon drive a company car right now. Even if it would be fun to stick it to Schnee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	5. Snack N' Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aka "Qrow Has Opinions on Food: the Musical"

The next leg of their journey took them down the US-40 toward St. Louis, which took them through a lot of farm land and passed a lot of trees. It took about an hour of fiddling with radio stations, grumbling about static, and sighing overdramatically before Qrow finally got annoyed enough to speak up.

“Ugh, why are there so many _trees?_ ” asked Qrow, flopping back in his seat. With his fingers off the radio, James clicked it off on the steering wheel, biting back a sigh. The static had been starting to drive him up the wall.

“We’re in a rural area,” said James, drumming his fingers on the wheel. “It makes perfect, logical sense for it to be mostly trees and farmland.”

Qrow rolled his eyes and huffed, blowing his bangs upward. “Doesn’t make it less boring.”

James raised an eyebrow at him. There was a faint pain in his right arm, a dull ache that pulsed in time with the bumps on the road, but it wasn’t bad yet. He figured he’d pull over for dinner and take another round of painkillers then. “Aren’t you a trucker?” asked James. “Shouldn’t you be used to long trips with nothing to do?”

“Usually I sing,” said Qrow.

James winced, remembering the Back-in-Black shrieking on their first day out. “Please, don’t,” he said.

“Hey, I’m not that bad a singer,” said Qrow.

James chuckled. “No, you’re right.” Qrow perked up out of the corner of his eye. “You’re _worse._ ”

Qrow gave an indignant squawk, then quickly broke off into loud laughter. James joined them, shoulders shaking as he kept the car steady.

“Nah, that’s fair,” said Qrow as his laughter peeled off. “Raven’s the better one outta me and her, but Tai’s the real angel out of the four of us.”

“Yes, I’ve heard him sing,” said James. He could almost hear him now; those low lullabies he sang for the girls whenever there were sleepovers. The gentle notes that had James drifting if he focused on them too long. “He’s very good.”

Qrow nodded and leaned back in his seat, back arching and an obscene sound slipping between his lips. James swallowed and tightened his hands on the steering wheel. The pain in his arm spiked for a moment and he sucked in a breath.

“You okay?” asked Qrow.

James shook his head and immediately regretted the action. His eyes fluttered and he pulled off to the side of the road, letting out a sharp, shaky breath.

“Pain,” James bit out. He rested his head against the seat and closed his eyes. A car zipped by, the sound of the wind its only indicator. He rubbed at the junction point of his metal shoulder and neck with his left hand, but the angle tugged hard at the rest of his right side. With a quiet curse, James dropped his left hand and took a deep breath.

“May I?” Qrow’s voice was soft in his ears. Through the fabric of James’ long sleeved shirt, he could feel the heat coming off Qrow’s hand, hovering just above his shoulder.

“Sure.” His words were just barely above a murmur, but Qrow evidently heard them. His fingers rested on James’ shoulder, feeling around for where the metal met flesh. When he found it, his fingers dug in, working the scars and junction point until his fingers were radiating warmth and relief throughout James’ neck, collarbone and across his other shoulder.

They stayed like that, Qrow’s fingers working the pain and knots from James’ right shoulder and James with his eyes closed, leaning slightly into the touch, for some time. James wasn’t aware of how long, but when Qrow finally released him, he found he was floating slightly, the pain there but more distant than it had been before.

“You want me to drive?” The words were the first spoken since James had agreed to let Qrow massage his shoulder. They were low, barely there, and James didn’t want to chance a nod.

“Yeah,” said James, voice hoarse. His eyes fluttered open. Qrow’s cheeks were flushed, his lips parted slightly, and James raised an eyebrow.

Qrow cleared his throat and climbed out of the car, ducking his gaze from James’. With slight difficulty, James peeled himself out of the car. He tossed the keys to Qrow and climbed into the passenger’s seat, letting himself settle against the seat again.

“Do me a favour and grab the bag behind you,” murmured James as Qrow climbed back into the car. Qrow leaned around the seat and grabbed James’ pack, dropping it into his lap. The pill bottle rattled as James shook out two and swallowed them dry. He tossed the bag back into the backseat and settled in place. Grimaced.

“St. Louis, right?” asked Qrow, tapping at the GPS. “Rest up, Jimbo, I’ll get us there.”

“It’s James,” murmured James. “And thank you.”

* * *

 

James awoke some time later, groggy, drifting, and with cotton mouth, and the first thing he noticed was that the car wasn’t moving. The second thing he noticed was that Qrow was gone.

James jerked upright, cursing as he felt the weight of the painkillers shove back and make him heavy and lethargic. He groaned and fell back against the seat, rubbing at his face with his left hand. Took in his surroundings slowly.

Parking lot. Some other cars but not a lot. A gas station? Yeah, the pumps and the smell made that evident. There seemed to be some sort of coffee shop as well, and James spotted a sign flashing the words “Snack-N-Go” in front of him. He squinted at the blurry neon sign. The sun was still in the air, but he figured it was probably about five or six. Dinner time, but they weren’t at St. Louis yet.

The car door opened and Qrow came in, holding a pair of bags and a little tray holding two coffees. “Hey, you’re up,” he said. “Sorry about this, we’re still about an hour outside of St. Louis, figured I should rehydrate.” He held out a coffee to James and set down the bags. “Want one?”

James took the coffee, letting the heat from the cup sink into his hand and slowly drag him back to earth, and smiled at Qrow. “Thank you,” he murmured. “Would you like me to take over?”

“Nah,” said Qrow, shrugging. He shut the door and flashed an easy grin at James. “I got it. How you feeling?”

James rolled his shoulders. There was a twinge there, but the fog of the pain killers had mostly killed it, and all he could really think about was how good that coffee smelled. He sipped at it, holding it in his left hand, and sighed softly.

“Better,” said James. “Thank you, for taking over.”

Qrow shrugged, a languid motion that rolled his entire body in his seat. James tried not to stare. Found his gaze drifting across the long, clean line of Qrow’s body. Lean and rippling slightly with his stretch. Shirt riding up slightly to reveal a thin line of slightly tanned skin just above his hips.

James felt his cheeks heat and sipped at his coffee, gaze swinging toward the dashboard, where Qrow had dropped the snack bags. “What did you get?” he asked. The slight scratch to his voice could have easily been from the hot coffee or his impromptu nap.

“Chips, chocolate, some jerky,” said Qrow, shrugging. “Just snack shit until we hit St. Louis.”

“Jerky?” asked James. It had probably been fifteen years since he’d touched jerky. No real use for it where he was. No real use for anything quick in his life. Mostly muffins and coffee if anything fast. He preferred to cook at home most nights – his oversized, incredibly high tech kitchen could attest to that.

“Turkey jerky,” said Qrow, chugging his own coffee afterward. “Beef jerky is disgusting.”

James quirked an eyebrow. “Right,” he said, drily. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Hey, don’t question my tastes in food.” Qrow jabbed a finger at James, a look on his face that was probably supposed to be serious but mostly just made him look ridiculous. “I’ve got opinions on every food under the sun.”

James shook his head, trying to fight the amused twist to his lips. “I’ve noticed.”

“For instance, authentic Chinese beats out badly made Thai food any day, but Tex Mex beats them both. And don’t even get me started on road side sushi.” Qrow waved his hand vaguely, snagging a bag of Twizzlers as he did and tearing it open with his teeth. “That stuff is either heaven wrapped in rice or makes you shit through the eye of a needle for three days.”

“That’s… crude,” said James slowly.

Qrow grinned, all teeth. “I’m a trucker, what did you expect?” He shoved a couple of pieces of licorice into his mouth.

James chuckled. “Fair enough,” he said. He grabbed one of the snack sized bags of chips – this one salt and vinegar – and popped a few into his mouth.

As they ate, James dug out his phone and checked it. There were a few new text messages from Raven – mostly asking if James had tried to kill her twin yet – a missed call from Penny – he’d call her back later – and a new snapchat from Oz. Raising an eyebrow, James opened the snapchat. It was a picture of Glynda, caught mid-laugh with sunlight streaming through her hair, eyes closed and face scrunched up around her nose. The caption read “I am the luckiest person alive. <3.” James smiled.

He was glad they’d found each other, in the end.

“What’re you smiling at?” asked Qrow.

“Just friends back home being silly,” said James, shaking his head. He shoved his phone back into his jeans’ pocket. “It’s a nice change from all the business emails.”

Qrow looked at him, mouth full of licorice. “Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”

“Technically? Yes.” James sighed and leaned back in his seat. The comfortable fog in his head loosened his tongue and his muscles, allowing him to relax as he fell into his own words. “But Schnee’s an overbearing ass at his best. Frankly, I’m not convinced the whole place wouldn’t fall apart if I left for a month. The man has no sense of diplomacy and no damn charisma. Honestly.”

Qrow snorted, the sound building up into a laugh until he was positively cackling next to James. “Oh, if this is what you’re like on pain killers, I have _got_ to get you drunk at some point.”

“Not supposed to mix the two, I’m afraid,” said James. He tilted his head toward Qrow and flashed a grin. “You’ll have to catch me on a good day.”

“I can wait,” said Qrow, tone teasing and eyes sparkling. His mouth curled into a playful smirk that was half grin. “I’m nothing if not patient, Jimbo. Comes with the territory.”

“Trucker?” guessed James.

“Uncle.” Qrow’s tone was just as amused as his look. “You ever tried to talk a pair of kids into something?”

James thought of Penny. She had his stubborn streak when she wanted to, even if she was largely obedient. Sometimes he thought she should be _less_ obedient. Cause some mayhem. “Can’t say I have, Penny’s an angel.”

“Lucky bastard,” said Qrow. He leaned back in the seat and propped his legs against the wheel as he slurped his coffee. “Ruby and Yang conspire to break the law once a week.”

James raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t heard the two girls’ escapades described _quite_ like that.

“Oh?” asked James. “Hard to believe the three get along so well then.”

Qrow shrugged, a shadow crossing his face. “Yeah, well, maybe things changed since I was last home. It’s… been a while.”

“How long?” asked James.

Qrow sighed, blowing his bangs up from his face. He combed them back with his free hand, his lips smeared red by the licorice. “I haven’t been back for more than two or three days in almost two years. This is me, going home. Probably for the summer at least.”

“You really are a nomad,” said James.

Qrow shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m a wanderer – me and Raven both. Difference is, she ran a lot sooner and came back years ago. Was gone for over a year after Ruby was born. But she came back. Me?” Qrow shook his head. Drained the rest of his coffee. “I’ve never really been one to stay in one place for too long. Never really had a reason to. Maybe if I met someone, settled down…” He sighed and trailed off. “Anyway, we should get going if we wanna find a decent motel.”

“Right, you driving?” asked James. He didn’t press the issue. If Qrow wanted to tell him, he would. As it stood, it wasn’t his business.

So as Qrow drove out of the parking lot, James dug out his phone and hooked up the Bluetooth, playing the songs on his “Recently Added” list, which were mostly 80s rock and things Qrow had mentioned on their three questions car ride.

They didn’t talk. But it was more comfortable than it was awkward. They sat in the relative silence, ate snacks, occasionally chatted about music, and headed for St. Louis.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	6. Chocolate vs Coconut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter, ngl. Oh Qrow, you... Qrow.

James stretched as they walked into the hotel room, tossing his bag onto one of the two beds before heading for the bathroom.

“I need a shower,” he said, and he really did. Long sleeves in the middle of summer were horrid at the best of times, and an absolute nightmare with the humidity they’d had on their way to St. Louis. He grabbed at the bottom of his shirt as he crossed the room.

“I’m gonna order a pizza, you want some?” asked Qrow.

“Sure,” said James. Then, after a moment’s thought, he added, “Get cookies.”

“Aye, aye,” said Qrow. James stepped into the bathroom and peeled off his shirt, tossing it aside. Before he could close the door, he heard a crash and half turned around to see Qrow sprawled on the floor.

Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “What happened?” The amusement in his voice had him half chuckling.

“I slipped,” mumbled Qrow, cheeks flushed as he scrambled back onto the bed, looking anywhere but at James.

“Uh… huh,” said James, slowly. Qrow was a strange one, if nothing else. He shook his head and closed the door, stripping to climb into the shower. After the aching pain that had slipped its way through his body all day long, the hot water was a welcome relief.

He stayed under for a whiles, eyes closed as he leaned against the slick tiles and let the hot water sluice across his aching figure.

When James managed to peel himself out of the shower, though it took longer than it should have, he found a pizza and a bag of two-bite cookies sitting on Qrow’s bed. Sitting down on his own bed, and wiping his hair, James grabbed a slice of the pepperoni pizza and bit into it.

“Thanks,” said James.

Qrow shrugged. “You didn’t tell me what you wanted, so I picked something safe.”

James nodded. “It’s fine, thanks.” He glanced at the clock, noting the time, and spotted a second bag of two-bite cookies on Qrow’s other side. Cocking an eyebrow, he asked, “Why two?”

Qrow swallowed the rest of his pizza slice and flashed James a grin. “Chocolate and coconut,” he said. “The two superior cookie flavours. Gotta have both so I can test your cookie supremacy.”

“I don’t think you’re using that word correctly,” said James.

Qrow waved him off. “Doesn’t matter. Anyway, let me tell you why these two cookies are the best there are – especially when you put them together.”

James sighed and grabbed another slice of pizza, content to settle down and listen to Qrow babble about the logistics of cookie flavours.

“Look, chocolate chip cookies are a classic, a staple of American culture and cuisine,” said Qrow, waving around one of the tiny cookies. “And it’s not just as simple as a tube of dough and a cookie sheet, no.” He stabbed the cookie toward James. “It’s an art form, James. The ratio of chocolate to dough, the size and shape of the cookie, the quality of your oven – it all combines into one of the greatest experiences in your life.” Qrow popped the two bite cookie into his mouth, swallowing before he spoke again. “There’s nothing in the world like biting into a still warm chocolate chip cookie on a cold winter’s day in a cozy kitchen.”

James smiled at Qrow, shaking his head slightly. “That’s a very specific image.”

“Yeah, it is,” said Qrow, softly. He leaned back on the bed, hands behind him and body arching slightly as he stretched. James caught himself staring at the long line of Qrow’s body, gaze trailing from Qrow’s face – lax with relaxation and eyes closed – down Qrow’s torso, the ridden up shirt, all the way to his well-fit dark jeans.

James cleared his throat and ducked his gaze, a flush working its way across his jaw and up into his cheeks, right to his ears. “Any reason why?”

“Tai’s mom used to make them on the first day it snowed,” said Qrow, softly. “When Raven and I were teenagers, that’s where we lived, with Tai. Summer lived down the street. First time it snowed every year, the four of us would run outside and play around ‘til we froze.” He chuckled, shaking his head. His bangs hung in his face and James fought back the urge to reach across the gap between them and brush them back. “By the time we came in, Tai’s mom had a batch of cookies already for us.” He grinned at James, tilting his head back toward him.

There was a slight flush to Qrow’s cheeks, probably from the warmth of the bathroom curling close to Qrow’s bed, and, coupled with his smile and mused hair, he looked a little debauched. James swallowed and shifted his legs together in his bed clothes, thankful for the looseness of his drawstring sweatpants.

“What about you?” asked Qrow. “You got any family traditions?”

“Not many,” said James. He let himself fall back on the bed, drawing his left leg up onto it, foot resting on the mattress, to hide any lingering thoughts of Qrow’s appearance. He stared at the ceiling and the shadows the light threw across it. “Most of my traditions were born from Glynda, rather than my father.” He tucked his right arm behind his head, humming.

“Glynda?” asked Qrow.

James chuckled. “My best friend and also, technically, the mother of my daughter.”

“Now _there’s_ a story.” James could practically hear the raised eyebrow. There was a creak, a shift, and then Qrow dropped down beside him, barely four inches separating their shoulders. “Do tell.”

James smiled. “So, I’ve never been interested in women, I’ve known this for… quite a while, but I always wanted children.” He could remember this discussion with Glynda like it was yesterday. The awkwardness, the laughter, the raised eyebrows. “When I brought it up to Glynda, she was more than willing to carry Penny for me.”

Qrow nodded, jostling his hair. His arms were folded behind his head, his elbow close to James’ ear, but not uncomfortably so. “We had a long discussion on _how_ exactly we’d manage that, and, in the end—” He grimaced. “—we both decided that in vitro fertilization was too expensive, so we opted for the… natural method.”

There was a long moment of silence, then Qrow let out a sharp bark of laughter. “You had sex with her. _You?_ ”

James nodded, a low chuckle slipping out from between his lips. He combed his hand across his face, an embarrassed flush working its way across his cheeks. “Yes, we did. It was… horrendously awkward, not the least of which because Glynda isn’t interested in men, either.”

Qrow tilted his head toward James, frowning. “Wait, but the guy she’s with in the snapchats…”

“Not a man,” said James. “Ozpin is… neither, actually. They’ve been a ‘they’ almost as long as I’ve known them.”

Qrow nodded, lips pursed in a thoughtful of expression. “Fair enough,” he said. “So, uh, how awkward was it? Did she say anything?”

“Yes, she did.” James looked over at Qrow, a wry twist to his expression. “She said her thighs were sticky.”

There was a brief moment of silence, then Qrow burst into sudden, explosive laughter – head thrown back and mouth stretched wide around the enormous sound. James joined him, both of them laughing at the ridiculousness of such a statement.

There was part of James, hidden behind the laughter, that remembered his embarrassment and horror at the statement, at the lingering shame and guilt whenever Glynda echoed the statement, even now, years later. But he brushed that part of himself aside and let himself laugh alongside Qrow at the absurdity of the entire situation.

When their laughter finally died, many minutes later, James tilted his head on the bed to see Qrow grinning at him, pupils dilated and cheeks flushed. Qrow’s gaze darted from James’ eyes to his mouth, then he licked his lower lip, slow and barely there.

James swallowed, the hammering in his chest far louder and far faster than the tick-ticking of the clock that hung between their beds.

Qrow shifted, almost imperceptibly, closer to James. Before he could get any closer, James cleared his throat, bringing up his left arm – the one between himself and Qrow – to rub his hand on his face again.

“So, coconut cookies?” asked James, ignoring the way his voice had gone low and hoarse.

Qrow nodded and sat up, shifting so that he leaned against the headboard of James’ bed with his legs tucked up close to him. “What about them?” asked Qrow. He swallowed visibly, one leg up toward his chest. James pretended not to notice. He’d been doing the same thing a few minutes ago. He wondered if Qrow had noticed then, as he noticed now.

“Why coconut? Why not, say, double chocolate or brownie cookies?” asked James. He sat up as well, one leg hanging off the bed and the other tucked close to him. “There must be a reason why those two are the ones you picked.”

Qrow grinned and spread his hands, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Ah, let me tell you the story of the coconut cookie vendor.”

“Coconut cookie vendor?” echoed James, raising one eyebrow.

“Hush,” said Qrow. “It’s rude to interrupt people when they’re telling a story.”

James held up his hands in defense, but said nothing more.

“So,” started Qrow, “when I was about sixteen years old I met this food truck vendor. He was a strange guy – tall, eccentric, a little like you, actually.” James gave Qrow a flat look; Qrow grinned. “His business was doing badly and I knew he was about to go under. I didn’t know how to help, but I wanted to. One day, when I’m walking passed his truck, he says to me ‘Qrow’—” Qrow dropped his voice to a low, grumbling tone “—‘Qrow, take these fliers and hand them out. If you do, I’ll give you half a dozen of my coconut cookies’. So I did.”

James raised an eyebrow at Qrow’s pause and the faraway look in Qrow’s eyes.

Qrow chuckled, shaking his head, and continued with, “He did that almost every day for all of July. Every time he paid me in coconut cookies. You’d figure I’d get sick of them eventually.” He shrugged, drawing his leg closer to his chest and draping an arm across it. “I never did. Between that, Tai’s job as a lifeguard, and me and Raven hanging out with Summer? That was probably the best summer of my life.” He looked at James, every inch of his expression and body open and filled with warmth. “And _that_ is why coconut cookies are amazing.”

“Wow,” breathed James. He leaned back on his hands, the smell of cookies and pizza coating his tongue as he spoke. “I can see that.”

“What about you?” asked Qrow.

James hummed and tilted his head to look at Qrow properly.

“Do you have any food stories, Jim?” Qrow cocked an eyebrow at James, lips twitching into something close to a smile.

“Not really,” said James. Which was true enough. Growing up, food had been mostly take-out or made by himself. His father had never been home, his mother long since passed. However… “Though, Penny and I once made peanut butter cookies.”

“How’d that go?” asked Qrow.

James laughed, softy and breathy, and shook his head. “We destroyed the kitchen and a blender.” James gave Qrow a flat look. “You don’t even _use_ a blender in peanut butter cookies.”

“How did you even _manage_ that?” asked Qrow, raising an eyebrow.

James settled in to tell the story. “Well, it all started on the Friday before last Halloween.” As he spoke, he and Qrow traded laughter and tips, jokes and stories, until James’ face hurt from grinning and laughing and Qrow was as red as an overripe tomato from his own laughter.

They spoke long into the night, their voices bleeding together, and James couldn’t remember the last time he had had so much fun talking to someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	7. Rainy Days and Ears of Maize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats for getting this far.
> 
> We finally hit why this fic is E rated. Or, rather, the first instance of why.

The rain had started sometime around noon. Their drive had started only a few hours prior, with James in the driver’s seat and Qrow playing DJ on James’ phone, which had died sometime around two in the afternoon. By four, the rain was so thick that they couldn’t see more than two cars ahead of them, and by six, they hit Maize, Kansas and gave up for the night.

Together, the two climbed out of the car, bags in hand, and bolted into the motel, soaking wet. They booked their room – the last one available – and stumbled together into it, dripping water everywhere.

Qrow said something about a shower, already peeling of his shirt, and James set down his bag. As he did, he caught sight of their sleeping arrangements.

“Hey, uh,” called James. “There’s only one bed.”

“Oh?” Qrow poked his head out of the bathroom. “Is it dry?”

James blinked. “Of course it’s dry. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Qrow shrugged. “Then no worries, man. I’ll take the left side. Good?”

James nodded and Qrow disappeared into the shower. After a moment, James peeled off his own shirt and tossed it aside, falling back on the bed. He let himself rest for a few minutes, eyes closed, one hand on his forehead.

Eventually, he sat up, stripped the rest of his clothes off, and switched into a new outfit. T-shirt, sweatpants, and nothing else. He hoped Qrow wouldn’t mind. Between the rain and the humidity, it was too damn hot to wear much else, and the wind from the open window was muggy and unbearably warm. At least the rain wasn’t coming in the window. That made it slightly more bearable.

James sat on the end of the king size bed and clicked on the television. It scrolled through half a dozen static channels before landing on something James had seen a thousand times before.

_“Echo three to echo seven. Han, old buddy, do you read me?”_

_“Loud and clear, kid. What’s up?”_

James broke into a wide grin and leaned back on the bed. “Oh my god,” he said, quietly. It had been what, five, six years since he’d last seen this movie? Too long, by any rate.

“Is that… Empire Strikes Back?” asked Qrow, appearing beside James. He had a towel around his bare shoulders and his low slung jeans had James’ eyes trailing down toward…

He cleared his throat. “Yes, yes it is.”

Qrow sat down on the end of the bed, not a foot from James, and snagged his bag from the floor. He opened it and handed James a bottle, still cool from the bag of ice it rested on.

“When did you get these?” asked James. Was this… was this _straight whiskey?_ That couldn’t be healthy. But then, he hadn’t been in pain today, despite the rain, and so his painkillers sat, untouched, in his bag. _Hrm_. As long as he wasn’t mixing them…

“Last time we hit a rest stop,” said Qrow. He snagged the bottle from James and popped it open, taking a swing. He passed it back to James, who shrugged and drank deeply from it. There was a brief pause, then the alcohol hit James’ system. Pleasant warmth pooled in his stomach and he leaned back on the bed, passing the bottle back to Qrow.

“This is a terrible idea,” said James, but he took back the bottle when it was offered anyway.

“Probably,” said Qrow. “But it’s still better than that time I got drunk in a corn field.”

James raised an eyebrow. “There’s a story I’m missing there.”

Qrow chuckled and took the bottle back, taking another swing before handing it over to James. “So corn is one of the best foods in the world, all right?”

“Sure,” said James, amused.

Qrow rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. Anyway, I got bored, got drunk, decided to start the religion of corn.” He shrugged. “I think Raven found me like four hours later serenading the corn.” He flashed a grin at James. “We still don’t know what happened to my pants.”

James laughed and took a swallow from the whiskey, shaking his head.

“You wanna watch?” asked Qrow, nodding toward the small television in the room.

James shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “Why not? Let’s find out which one of us knows this movie better.”

Qrow snorted and leaned back on his hands, letting James take another swing. “I spent half my childhood watching Star Wars. I can quote the whole thing.”

“Oh yeah?” James cocked his head to one side. “I probably can too, now that I think about it.”

Qrow grinned at him, snagging the bottle and taking a deep swing. “Oh yeah? Wanna bet on that?”

“Sure. Winner picks what we eat next?” asked James.

Qrow’s grin spread and he held out his bottle to James. “Let’s go.”

The quote off began with the rest of the opening scene, trailing into the first half of the movie with ease. James and Qrow passed the bottle back and forth as it grew emptier and emptier. Their quoting turned more slurred and giggly, with a handful of screw ups neither could be bothered to call the other on.

As Han brought up Lando, Qrow finally broke script. “This guy is amazing,” said Qrow. “He’s fucking _hot._ ”

James snorted. “Lando?”

“Han,” said Qrow. He groaned and fell backward on the bed, hands on his face. “I had _such_ a crush on him as a kid.”

James laughed and fell back next to him, grinning as he tilted his head to the left to look at Qrow. “Really?”

“Yeah. Always had a thing for Harrison Ford.” Qrow shrugged and folded his hands behind his head. He turned his head to grin at James. His cheeks were flushed and his pupils dilated.

James shook his head and let one hand rest on his chest, still smiling.

“What?” asked Qrow, wrinkling his brow.

“You are _so_ drunk right now,” said James, chuckling quietly. They both laughed, the sounds soft and their eyes watching one another. As their laughter died off, James caught himself staring at Qrow, his gaze darting down to Qrow’s lips. He was close enough to Qrow that he could feel the other man’s breath ghosting his lips now in soft huffs.

“Jim?” Qrow’s voice was barely there; his own gaze darted down to James’ lips.

James shifted forward, one hand fisted in front of him. “Let me… let me try something.” As the words slipped into the space between them, James closed it. He pressed his lips to Qrow’s, letting it linger for a moment.

When he pulled back, Qrow was staring at him with wide eyes and red cheeks. “Can you… can you do that again?” asked Qrow, voice cracking halfway through.

James nodded and scooted toward Qrow. He shifted onto his side and climbed onto Qrow, planting his elbows on either side of Qrow’s head. One knee rested between Qrow’s legs and his entire body rested over Qrow’s.

“Jim?” Qrow’s voice was a murmur, ghosting James’ lips as he leaned down and kissed Qrow again. This time it was deeper, hotter, infinitely more satisfying. Mouth met mouth and then both opened to one another’s. Tongues and lips finding one another as they struggled to press themselves as close together as possible. Qrow’s fingers fisted in James’ hair, tilting his head for another angle.

When they pulled back, Qrow shoved himself backward onto the bed until his back hit the headboard and James followed after. Leaned over Qrow and kissed him again and again. His right hand slid up Qrow’s bare chest, the towel long since discarded, and Qrow shivered.

“Cold,” mumbled Qrow against his lips. James pulled his hand away, but Qrow grabbed it and laced their fingers together. “S’fine, keep going.”

James nodded and tweaked Qrow’s nipple, dragging his mouth down Qrow’s chest until he rested level with Qrow’s navel. He looked up, hair hanging over his forehead and Qrow’s hand on his head, and gave Qrow a little smile.

Qrow smiled back, tilting his body as James sucked a line across Qrow’s exposed hips. Damn low slung pants. He curled his right hand against Qrow’s hip, the left one stroking small circles on Qrow’s stomach above James’ head.

James shifted back up onto the bed, cupping Qrow between his legs and pressing his palm into the growing firmness there. Qrow let out a sharp gasp, hips arching into James’ touch. Mid-gasp, James took Qrow’s mouth with his own in as deep and hot a kiss as he could manage.

Warmth and hunger pooled in James’ veins, spurred further onward by the flush in Qrow’s cheeks and the soft noises he made as he arched into James’ touch and pressed back onto James’ mouth. James rocked his hips slightly into Qrow’s thigh, knowing full well that his erection was noticeable. He couldn’t help it. He needed the friction, the pressure release.

But when Qrow reached down to grope him through his sweatpants, James scooted away from Qrow and shook his head.

“Hey, if this is about getting naked,” started Qrow. He tilted his head and mouthed at the junction between metal and scar tissue on James’ collarbone. James groaned, the warmth shooting straight to his cock, and rolled his hips again. They pressed into the sheets and he forced himself to stop before he made an embarrassment of himself.

“It’s not,” said James, but his voice was tight. It was about getting naked. Not about his leg or his arm, or even his torso. His t-shirt showed off the start of that, and James had been shirtless in front of Qrow before. It was about something else entirely.

It was about what lay between his legs, and what didn’t. How flesh and blood had since been replaced with something else. Something cold and metal and, while still functional, not nearly as human or as attractive as the real thing.

“So what’s the problem?” asked Qrow. He raised an eyebrow at James, squirming under James’ hand, which James still kneaded in hopes of distracting him. “Come on, Jim.”

“It’s fine,” murmured James. He sucked at Qrow’s collarbone. “Just fine.” He didn’t let Qrow question it. Just pressed another kiss to his collarbone. Then one on his throat. Let his hands stroke Qrow’s sides and hips, pressing hard in intervals to get Qrow to gasp and arch into his touch. His mouth trailed downward, across Qrow’s chest in soft, wet motions that led him to Qrow’s waist.

He undid Qrow’s jeans and shoved them down, letting Qrow kick them off. James looked up to Qrow and cocked an eyebrow.

“You clean?” he asked, aware of how hoarse his voice had gone. His entire body ached with the want to press himself against the nearest surface and rut until he could find some relief. But he shoved it back and focused on Qrow. On the red boxers before him.

He glanced up at Qrow once last time, marvelling in the flush across his cheeks and the way his sweaty hair hung in his face and partially obscured the blown wide pupils of his eyes.

Qrow nodded and said, “Yeah, I am.”

James flashed him a small smile and tugged down Qrow’s boxers. Then, taking a breath, he leaned forward and took Qrow’s cock in his mouth.

The reaction was instant. Qrow gasped and jerked into his mouth, only for James to pin his hips with his metal hand. Qrow’s hand fisted in James’ hair, tugging lightly, and his other hand curled into the sheets. He groaned, body arching forward and head tipping with it.

James hummed and closed his eyes, revelling in the heavy weight of Qrow on his tongue. He sucked and licked eagerly, uncaring of the slight spit that dribbled down his chin. It had been too long – since before the accident – since he’d gotten to do this. Too long since he’d listened to someone come undone while he only used his mouth.

The soft noises of Qrow and the soft noises of James’ mouth filled the room, with Empire Strikes Back still playing in the background. James’ tongue swirled across the head, his left hand coming forward to grasp the base of Qrow’s cock and jerk it steadily alongside his mouth.

It was a slow build up, languid, almost, and James lost track of time. All he knew was the slowly building ache in his jaw, the weight of Qrow on his tongue, and the arousal that clung to his own cock, begging for release.

When Qrow’s warning came, it was soft and broken, his hips twitching desperately against James’ mouth even as he gave word. James pulled off and stroked Qrow, his left hand warm and calloused against Qrow’s cock. He shifted up to press his mouth to Qrow’s collarbone, picking up his pace around Qrow’s cock as he did.

Qrow gave a curse, muffled as he buried his face in James’ shoulder, and came, spurting against his own bare chest and James’ hand.

After that, the only sounds in the room were Qrow’s soft pants as he struggled to catch his breath, and the sounds of Lando Calrissian betraying the heroes behind them.

“Wow,” breathed Qrow, giving a soft chuckle. He sighed against James’ shoulder, tilting his head so his words brushed James’ collarbone. “You’re pretty incredible at that.”

“Thank you,” said James.

There was a moment of silence, and James caught the way Qrow’s gaze flicked down to his obvious arousal. “You sure you don’t want me to…” Qrow trailed off, seemingly unsure of how to finish his sentence.

“It’s fine,” said James. He faltered against Qrow’s gaze as Qrow lifted his head from his shoulder. Against the soft confusion and worry that lingered there. “Maybe next time.”

Qrow raised an eyebrow. “Next time?” he asked, but his words were half broken by a yawn. James pressed a kiss to Qrow’s cheek and smiled at him. He settled Qrow back against the headboard and stood, ducking into the bathroom.

There, he washed off his left hand, grabbed a wet facecloth, and returned to wipe down Qrow. As he did, he watched Qrow drift closer and closer to sleep, until he clung to awareness by only a thread.

“You coming back?” asked Qrow, when James stood once again.

James nodded. “In a minute,” he said. “Just going to clean this off and get ready for bed.” Qrow nodded, rolled over, and curled up under the blankets to pass out. James watched him for a minute, a tiny smile on his face, then he padded into the bathroom, shut the door, and dumped the facecloth in the sink. He drenched the cloth, ensuring it was clean, before shucking his own clothes and climbing into the shower.

There, tired and tense as he was, he dealt with his arousal the only way he could – with a firm hand, a bitten lip, and a need to be as silent and efficient as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	8. The Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James, you idiot.

James woke up to a cold bed and an empty room. He sat up, looking around, and frowned to himself. Where was Qrow? The bathroom door was open and Qrow’s shoes were missing from the door. With a quiet sigh, James pulled himself from bed. Qrow had to be around somewhere, even if he wasn’t in the room. His bag was still there, so he had to come back, and James’ keys were still there, so he hadn’t taken the car.

Things were probably fine. Maybe. Hopefully.

Completely disregarding that he’d sucked Qrow off last night and hadn’t allowed Qrow to reciprocate, nor allowed Qrow to see him pants-less.

Everything, James thought firmly as he picked up the post-it note on the dresser, was perfectly fine.

_‘Went to get food. Be back in a bit.’ – Qrow_

James felt himself relax, despite knowing that was no reason to be worried to begin with. Still, it helped that Qrow seemed pretty relaxed about everything.

James stretched, scratching idly at his stomach, and sat back down on the bed. He fell back onto the bed, arms above his head, and stared at the ceiling, waiting for Qrow to come back.

Should he get dressed? Pack? He didn’t know. He didn’t exactly have a lot of experiences with one-night stands where his bedmate came _back._ Did this even count as a one-night stand, considering they were going to be in close proximity for the next week and a half? And fuck, when was the last time he’d even had a one-night stand? At least eight years ago. He’d only had sex once or twice between Glynda and the accident.

James groaned quietly as his mind spun with possibilities.

Too many variables. James didn’t like it. He preferred his work, where he could control most of them without worry of how it would affect people outside himself. It wasn’t until later, when all the lab experiments had finished, that he had to worry about generalization. Until then, he was free to do as he wished without interference. Provided he followed code, of course.

James laid there for a time, staring at the ceiling. It was only a few minutes before Qrow returned, the door to their motel room swinging open. James sat up as Qrow entered the room, watching him. He was laden down with a handful of bags, one of which James recognized from the pharmacy down the road.

He had a feeling he knew what was in that bag.

The thought made the back of his neck flush.

“Hey,” said Qrow, setting the bags down on the dresser next to the TV. It was off, this morning, but it had been playing Return of the Jedi when James had turned it off the night before.

“Hey,” said James. Absently, James was aware that he was still shirtless from the night before. He flushed deeper when he realized that Qrow wasn’t staring.

The not-staring was nice. It wasn’t a pointed not-staring, just a casual glance at James and a smile.

Qrow turned away from him to fiddle with the bags and James turned his head to look out the window. Neither one said anything for a long moment, instead choosing to avoid one another.

After a minute, Qrow said, loudly, “So, how about this elephant in the room?”

James chuckled, ducking his head to hide the amused twist of his lips. “Well,” he said, looking up through his hair, which hung in his face, at Qrow. “I have no regrets, what about you?”

Shaking his head, Qrow turned to face James and leaned against the dresser, his hands curled against the wood. “Just one,” he said, lips twitching.

“Oh?” asked James, raising an eyebrow.

Qrow lifted a hand to stab a finger at James. “That I didn’t get to return the favour.” He shrugged and James winced. “But whatever, I get that you have your reasons. Kinda hoping you’ll let me return the favour next time, though.”

“What makes you think there’s going to be a next time?” asked James. He raised an eyebrow, hoping he sounded firm, but it was a losing battle. Qrow was _unfairly_ attractive and James knew he didn’t stand a chance if the man was willing to go again. He’d probably tumble back into bed with Qrow with the barest of excuses.

If, for nothing else, then to fuel his shower fantasies.

“Last night,” said Qrow, a touch of amusement in his voice. He crossed the short space between them and rested his hands on James’ shoulders, standing between James’ parted legs. James swallowed hard. “Last night, you said that ‘next time’ you’d let me return the favour.” He climbed up onto the bed, perching himself on James’ lap, arms draped loosely around his shoulders. James swallowed, well aware of the heat radiating off of Qrow.

“Qrow,” said James. He tried to make it a warning, but it came out more desperate and wanting than anything else. He shifted, bringing his hands up to Qrow’s waist to steady him, but Qrow took the advantage to shove James back down onto the bed and clamber atop him properly.

Then, he was leaning down and kissing James, groaning softly into James’ mouth.

James tossed aside his inhibitions and kissed Qrow back, hands tightening on Qrow’s waist. Qrow wriggled closer, his interest already evident against James’ thigh, and kissed James so deeply that James wondered if he ever wanted to surface again.

They stayed like that for a time, tangled up in each other. At some point, James rolled them over and pinned Qrow to the bed, one arm braced above Qrow’s head to kiss him without putting too much weight on Qrow.

Qrow tangled his fingers in James’ hair, which was unruly this morning to begin with, and forced James closer and closer until they were breathing each other’s air whenever they pulled back. The two kept going, trading lazy, but still involved, kisses until James was as hard as Qrow and struggling to hide it.

“Well,” murmured Qrow against his lips with a quiet chuckle. He rolled his hips into James’ and James cursed under his breath, “ _hello_ there.” One of Qrow’s hands slid down, trying to slide between them, but James caught it and shook his head. “What?” asked Qrow.

James shuffled lower on Qrow, pushing up his shirt to suck little marks on his abs. “Lemme do this first,” murmured James. Never mind that he was _definitely_ not letting Qrow’s hands or mouth anywhere near his dick.

“All right,” said Qrow, settling in with his hands behind his head. He flashed a grin at James when James looked up. “I’m gonna hold you to that, Jimbo.”

James bit back the guilt that swam up in the face of his lie, and in the face of the open affection and trust in Qrow’s face, despite his obvious amusement.

James only hoped that amusement held after his next trick. He returned to pressing kisses down Qrow’s abs, trailing to the top of his pants. His actions mirrored those of last night – his fingers curled into Qrow’s waistband, drawing down his pants. His thumbs cooked into the material as he pulled them clean off. His gaze slid back up to Qrow, who watched him with flushed cheeks and dilated pupils.

James’ thumbs went to Qrow’s boxers before drawing them down as well. As Qrow lifted his hips to help, James leaned down to press a kiss to the underside of Qrow’s cock. He almost smiled at the low groan that slid out of Qrow.

Almost.

James took Qrow’s length into his mouth, hollowing his cheeks as he took him as deep as he could. Qrow threw back his head and groaned as James sucked him off, one hand fisting in James’ hair.

It was almost mechanical, in a way. James’ mouth on Qrow’s cock, James’ tongue working alongside. Even his hand – the right one, today – wrapping around the base was more out of habit than anything else. Not that James was absent, but more than he was worried. And the frustrating want that pulsated between his own legs was more than a tad distracting.

So James did what he did best. He fell into the motions and focused his energy on Qrow – on making Qrow feel good and wanted and pleasured. And it worked. Qrow didn’t seem to notice when James shifted and slipped his left hand down between his legs. Nor did he seem to notice when James slid that hand into his sweatpants and wrapped it around his cock.

The angle was weird. It always was. He wasn’t left-handed. But jacking off left-handed was better than the sound and feel of metal on metal that came from cock and right.

So James worked away at Qrow while he worked away at himself, and when Qrow gave warning and James pulled off, he checked to make sure Qrow wasn’t watching. But Qrow was trapped in the throes of ecstasy, and he didn’t notice when James’ hand on his cock stuttered as his own orgasm washed over him. Then Qrow was chasing after, spilling onto James’ hand and his own stomach as James kept up the motions.

And then it was over. James rested his cheek on Qrow’s thigh, sliding his hand from his pants, and tried to catch his breath. Once Qrow came around, there was no way he’d miss what James had done, but, hopefully, the fallout wouldn’t be too horrific.

There were a few minutes of silence while Qrow and James both their breath. Then, Qrow was nudging James’ shoulder and murmuring, “hey, get up here. My turn.”

James flashed him a grimace and said, “’Fraid I’m a one-shot-wonder.”

“You…” Qrow glanced down at James, who shifted to hide the fact that his pants were perfectly fine. He could change in a minute, pretend he was sticky. If there was a lack of a wet spot on the bed, well, hopefully Qrow wouldn’t notice. “Why?”

“Couldn’t help it,” mumbled James, pretending to be more embarrassed than he was. “Watching you was too much.” He only hoped that Qrow believed him. It was a bit of a stretch, he knew, but hey, it was worth a shot.

Qrow shook his head, looking amused, though James caught the slight tension around his mouth. James didn’t quite think he’d managed to convince Qrow, by the looks of things, but he hoped he could keep up the illusion well enough.

James slid away from Qrow, angling his body so Qrow wouldn’t notice the lack of wet spot on his sweatpants, and swung off the bed. “We should get dressed, we have a long day ahead of us.” He didn’t quite look at Qrow as he said it.

“Sure,” said Qrow. He sounded a bit out of it, though James figured that was probably because of the afterglow – or lack thereof, for that matter. James brushed it off and headed to the bathroom, grabbing his clothes along the way.

As he passed the dresser, he caught sight of what was in one of the bags, which finally confirmed his fears.

Condoms. Lube. A receipt. James swallowed hard, took a sharp breath through his nose, and disappeared into the bathroom.

He shut the door and leaned against it, forcing himself to calm his breathing. He could handle this. He could _handle_ this. Fuck. He just had to keep Qrow distracted long enough to get to Sacramento, then he had a thousand excuses for cutting off any semblance of sexual relationship.

“Hey, Jim?” Qrow’s voice filtered through the door. “Do you wanna have some breakfast before we go?”

James swallowed and forced himself to speak calmly. “Sure. What do you want?”

“Omelets. I know a place around here with a _mean_ omelet.” Qrow didn’t mention that he’d already bought food. James didn’t either.

The public space would make avoiding talking about this… whatever it was, much simpler.

Or so James hoped, anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	9. Corn Fields

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while, eh? Well, should be back on track now, considering I'm currently in the middle of chapter eleven.
> 
> Hope you all are still enjoying the story and happy new year!

Breakfast was awkward. The drive more so. James gripped the steering wheel with more strength than strictly necessary and focused on the back roads as the two drove out of Maize and further west. The radio played static, James’ phone was dead, the charger only half working, and Qrow didn’t have music on his. So, as they drove, they drove in silence. Painful, awkward, suffocating silence.

Qrow’s fingers drummed on his knees and, out of the corner of his eye, James could see how tense he was. It was a mirror to his own tension. A mirror to his own frustration. Qrow didn’t say a word as he drove. His fingers kept drumming against his knees, keeping pace with the shifting of the seconds on the clock.

James’ hand tightened on the steering wheel as the drumming picked up its pace. It slowly drove its way between his eyes, leaving him taking deep breaths through his nose to try and ignore it. But it was no use. With the windows up, the air conditioning on, and the radio off, Qrow’s drumming was one of the most distinctive and obnoxious sounds James could hear.

“Qrow,” James growled out. The drumming stopped. Out of the corner of his eyes, James saw Qrow swallow hard, his neck flushing. He pressed his lips together in a thin line and focused on the road. So long as he focused on the road, he didn’t have to think about this morning, or last night, or anything that had led up to it. They were less than a week from Sacramento. He could wait out the next four or five days of this. He knew he could.

There was perhaps fifteen minutes of silence, then Qrow’s fingers started drumming against his knee again. James made it almost a minute before he clenched his hands against the wheel and ground his teeth together.

“Qrow,” he growled again. Qrow went stiff next to him, letting out a shaky breath. “Must you do that?”

“Do what?” asked Qrow, his voice as tight as his posture.

James muttered through his teeth, unintelligible but there all the same. Qrow’s nostrils flared.

“The drumming,” said James, not raising his voice above a growl. “Either stop it, or I’ll stop it for you.”

Qrow’s cheeks flushed, his breathing hitched, and he let out a tiny noise and scooted toward the window.

“What is wrong with you?” asked James.

“You’re the one growling like it’s going out of style,” snapped Qrow. He scowled at James, still pressed against the window, and that was when James’ gaze slid down to Qrow’s lap. And the, ahem, _predicament_ he was currently in.

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” muttered James, letting most of the growl go out of his voice. He flexed his hands on the steering wheel, aware that he was going to bend it if he didn’t stop soon. “Now? Really? After everything else that’s happened today?”

“You don’t get to pick what you’re in to, Jimmy,” snapped Qrow.

James let out a low curse and rolled his eyes. “Oh, fuck off,” James replied. “You could control yourself if you tried.”

“What, like you?” asked Qrow, glaring at him. “Not all of us can shut down our dicks and pretend we’re _robots_.”

James flinched, braked, and pulled the car onto the side of the road.

“Shit, Jim, I…”

“Get out,” said James, eyes closed and head bent.

“Jim—”

“I said get out!” shouted James, turning to look at Qrow. He blinked hard, tears gathering in his eyes and threatening to fall. His chest heaved as he tried to control his breathing. Everything shook and screamed and he wanted to _break_ but he couldn’t. “After everything…” James’ voice cracked and he grimaced, looked away, tried to regain his composure. It was a lost cause.

He began again, this time with his voice low and hoarse. “After _everything_ , you pick _that_ to call me,” breathed James. “Get out. You can walk to Sacramento.”

There was a long pause, then the sound of the door opening and closing. Then, Qrow was gone.

James let his head fall to his hands on the steering wheel and let out a broken sob, tears finally falling free.

_“Fuck_ ,” he whispered, voice cracking on the word. He slammed his hands on the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

He knew it’d been too good to be true. He never got to have anything like this. Never got to just have _fun_ anymore. Qrow had known about everything but the dick and James had been too scared to tell him. Maybe that was a good thing. The robot comment had dug too deep and now James wanted to scream. Wanted to ask him why he thought that was okay.

Wanted to do something, anything, to undo the last few days of his life. To erase Qrow Branwen.

His phone, plugged in with a broken charger and now at two percent, buzzed next to James. He grabbed it and wiped at his eyes. The message was from Qrow.

‘ _I’m sorry_ ,’ it read, before continuing on. _‘That comment was a low blow and I didn’t even think about it when I said it. I don’t see you and your prosthetics as two separate things. You’re… you, and both halves of you are fucking gorgeous. But that doesn’t excuse what I did. So, I’m sorry. Be safe, Jim.’_

James stared at the message for several long minutes, then he looked over his shoulder and saw Qrow’s bag, still sitting on the back seat. Cursing under his breath, he left his phone in the car, grabbed the keys, and took off after Qrow into the cornfield.

He called for Qrow as he pushed through the broken stalks, heedless of the damage he was causing. At the very least, he was sticking to the same path Qrow had taken, so he was only damaging stalks that were already damaged. Or at least that was what he told himself.

“Qrow!” he called.

“Over here,” Qrow called back. His voice was soft and frustrated. James sighed and followed the words through some more stalks, where he found Qrow sitting in a small circle that was bare of corn. He wondered why, briefly, before refocusing on the matter at hand.

“Why’d you come here?” asked Qrow, looking up at him.

James hesitated, then, lamely, he said, “You forgot your bag.”

Qrow raised an eyebrow at James, his gaze falling to his empty hands – one covered, one not. “Huh.”

James sat down across from him, hesitating. “I got your text.”

“Oh.”

He sighed and scrubbed his face with his left hand. “Qrow…”

“I’m sorry,” said Qrow. “I really am. It was stupid and I shouldn’t have said it.”

“I may have overreacted,” said James, voice soft. “I’ll let you back in the car.”

“Thanks,” said Qrow.

Silence. Awkward and stifling, difficult to break.

Qrow finally did, after a minute, with, “Can I ask you one thing, though? And can you be honest with me?”

“I can try,” said James, slowly. He didn’t want to make any promises, for fear that he may regret them in a moment’s time.

“Why are you so scared to be naked?” asked Qrow. He cocked his head at James, arms folded on his knees as he leaned forward to look at James more closely. “I’ve seen you down to your shorts, Jim, I’m not going to spook.”

James faltered. How could he explain this to Qrow without giving anything away? “You don’t know that,” said James, tightly. He clenched his fists in his lap and dropped his gaze, unable to look at Qrow. “You have no idea how you’ll react when you actually see me.”

Qrow reached out and rested his hand on James’ knee – the right one, not the left – and squeezed gently. James swallowed hard.

“Have a little faith, Jim. I didn’t react to the rest of it, did I?” asked Qrow. _But this was different_ , thought James with rising panic. This wasn’t about a leg or an arm or even his torso, which Qrow had taken with surprising grace. This was about something much more intimate, something that James wasn’t sure he _could_ share with Qrow, even if he wanted to. There were too many variables. Too many unknowns.

He couldn’t risk it.

“Hey, stop thinking so hard,” said Qrow. He lifted his other hand and flicked James’ nose, making him wrinkle it and scowl at Qrow. “I’m not going to run, whatever you look like down there. I figure you’re scared of me seeing scars and seams, right?”

“Something like that,” muttered James.

Qrow lifted his hand from James’ knee and rested it on James’ breastbone, where most of his scarring was, beneath his clothes. “Why’s it so different from when you showed me the rest?” asked Qrow, softly.

“It is,” said James. “It just is.”

Qrow sighed and shifted forward, watching James to see if he flinched. When James only nodded, Qrow rested his forehead on James’ shoulder and hummed quietly. “All right.”

“…All right?” echoed James, unable to hide his confusion.

“If you don’t want to show me, you don’t have to show me,” said Qrow. His hand slid higher, resting on James’ shoulder, then the back of his neck. His fingers toyed with the hair on the back of James’ neck. “Doesn’t mean I don’t want you to.” His breath was a soft huff against James’ skin and James hummed, burying his face in Qrow’s hair. “But I’m not going to force you to.”

“Thank you,” whispered James, slipping his arms around Qrow and holding him close.

“One thing though?” said Qrow, tilting his head so that his voice vibrated against James’ hidden collarbone. James hummed. “No more blowjobs. I don’t want this to be one way.”

James sighed. It was a soft thing, only partially frustrated. He’d _liked_ the first blowjob. Had been looking forward to giving more. Watching Qrow come undone had been… _intoxicating._ But he understood. Besides, protesting discomfort when Qrow was being understanding would have been more than a little hypocritical.

“All right,” said James.

Qrow hummed. “We can still make out though, if you want.”

“I’d like that,” said James, chuckling quietly. Qrow nipped his ear and James sucked in a sharp breath before pushing Qrow away and laughing. He got to his feet and held out one hand – his right hand – to Qrow. Qrow took it and pulled himself to his feet, before leaning it and nipping at James’ jaw.

“Still gonna hold out hope,” murmured Qrow, before releasing James’ hand and heading back toward the car. James swallowed hard, remembering the condoms and lube in Qrow’s bag. The way Qrow had been so eager to reciprocate. How easy it had been to fall into bed with Qrow, even if he hadn’t been naked.

_Hope._

James didn’t like dealing in hope. It was too easy for hope to turn to disappointment and fear. Too easy for hope to be dashed. Qrow would run if he saw James naked. James knew that was certain as he knew his own name.

_Hope._

At least Qrow would stop asking now. Even if Qrow wanted to, he wasn’t going to push the issue. James could work with that. He could keep things dialed back. Even if he wanted to suck Qrow off. Even if he wanted to watch Qrow come undone beneath him.

Even if he _wanted_ to fuck Qrow through a motel mattress and hear him scream his name.

Yeah, he thought bitterly, _hope._

His only hope was that his self control would hold out long enough to get them to Sacramento without James losing his new friend.

With a quiet sigh, James started back toward the car, bitterness churning in his stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	10. Phone Calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are never simple with these boys, are they?

James had hoped that, by being honest with Qrow, and by talking to him in the cornfield, that the awkwardness in the car would disappear. He was wrong. While much of the awkward tension was gone, the sexual tension remained, and that was even _more_ awkward, in James’ opinion. But Qrow’s body was _right there_ in the passenger seat, and James knew Qrow was more than willing, and so the temptation to reach over and jerk him off while he drove was _there._ And it had been a strange, half-conscious desire that had swarmed his mind and tainted his thoughts for hours.

It was a stupid thought, one he would never encourage in real life, but it was there, niggling in the back of his mind, just like a thousand other stupid, sexual thoughts about Qrow that crowded behind his eyes and between his ears. And with every passing hour, those thoughts grew stronger and stronger, until it was only James’ self-control and mantra of ‘he won’t let me unless he can reciprocate’ in his head that allowed him to keep himself in check.

If the flush in Qrow’s ears, and the way he wouldn’t hold James’ gaze, were any indication, Qrow felt about the same way. Especially with all his _wiggling._

James had a few ideas on why he was wiggling. He had a few _better_ ideas on how to stop that wiggling. None of which he could act upon.

He understood why Qrow wanted their trysts to go both ways, but that didn’t stop James from being a tad frustrated that he couldn’t do anything to Qrow, despite their, apparently mutual, fantasies.

Of course, a quiet voice in the back of his head reminded him, you _could_ do things to Qrow, you just had to let him reciprocate. As his mantra had told him, over and over again.

James wanted to snort at the thought. That was unlikely. Completely, totally, and impossibly unlikely. Maybe with a few more solid words of denial thrown in for good measure.

Needless to say, by the time he and Qrow got out of the car and headed into the motel room that night, they were both a little tense, a little frustrated, and neither one was willing to look at each other.

Qrow mumbled something about needing a shower the moment they were in the door and stumbled off into the bathroom. James grimaced as the door banged shut and the water turned on.

He sighed. So much for solving their issues in the cornfield. But the car ride had proven to him that it simply wasn’t that, well, _simple._ Desire was a strong thing, one that James struggled to tame, and it seemed Qrow was having similar struggles.

_Damn it._

James fell back on the bed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair, closing his eyes. All the driving, plus the tension of the day, had left him aching and exhausted. All he wanted to do was curl up and pass out, despite the grime that clung to his skin and the need to change into something clean.

James let himself drift, half-asleep and half-awake as he waited for Qrow to get out of the shower. He didn’t think about much, it was easier not to, and simply floated on the painkillers he’d popped when he’d first gotten out of the car. They were kicking in in full force now, leaving his body sluggish and his mind scattered.

A low moan drifted over the sound of the shower spray. James’ eyes snapped open. He turned his head and stared, vaguely horrified, at the bathroom door.

Another moan.

James swallowed hard, shifting uncomfortably on the bed. He was torn – halfway between arousal and terror – and he had no idea what to do.

A low curse. James swallowed again. He knew those noises. He’d heard them from Qrow twice in the past twenty-four hours.

Had he really wound Qrow up that badly?

The answer seemed obvious enough, especially considering James had been about to do the exact same thing when he got into the shower.

He shifted again, pants uncomfortably tight, and debated his options.

On the next noise, James shoved himself to his feet, grabbed his phone, and headed outside. He couldn’t handle this right now. Not after everything else that had happened today. Let Qrow enjoy himself in the shower – he needed air. If he didn’t get air…

James shook his head and kept walking. Best not to put those thoughts in his head, lest he have to act on them – or relieve himself of them. Neither was a good option at the moment.

James headed out of the motel and out into the evening air. Closing his eyes, he rested against the worn brick outside of the motel and looked up at the stars. There were plenty of them, out in backwater towns, and he found himself enjoying the view despite everything.

He rolled his phone over in his hands, still uncomfortable but relaxing now that he was free of the noise and the room. There was even a breeze tonight, cutting through the lazy, humid heat that seemed to cling to the trip. The air conditioning in the motel room was better for cooling, but James preferred the fresh air, despite the damp in it that clung to his joints and made his right side ache despite the painkillers.

He grimaced.

His phone rang.

James jumped and glanced down at the screen, seeing ‘Ozpin’ and their picture pop up with a cheerful tone.

James relaxed and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello, Ozpin,” said James.

“James!” Their cheerful voice had James relaxing against the bricks again, free arm crossed over his chest. “It’s been a few days.”

“Indeed it has,” said James. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, quite,” said Ozpin. “Penny is having a great time harassing my cats – Penny, darling, Rascal bites! Oh dear,” Ozpin cleared their throat, “I do hope she listened. Now, James, I heard from a little bird that you’re travelling with a handsome stranger?”

James snorted. “Would this ‘little bird’ be Raven?”

“Perhaps,” said Ozpin, drily.

James shook his head, unable to help the amused twist of his lips. “Don’t let her hear you calling her that, Ozpin. She’s a lot stronger than you.”

“In my defense, I’m a scholar, not a mechanic,” they said. “How is your road trip going? Meet anyone _interesting_?”

“Ozpin,” said James, firmly.

Ozpin sighed. “I’m simply asking if you and Qrow have hit it off. I know you’ve been lonely, and I know you don’t often get a chance to engage in the more… sultry forms of socialization.”

James grimaced. “That’s one way of putting it,” he muttered.

“James.”

“We both know why I don’t… seduce people, Ozpin,” said James. He grimaced and rubbed his face with his free hand, pretending not to feel the slight tremble in it.

“Indeed, and I more than most,” said Ozpin, their voice soft. They sighed over the phone and James sighed in return. “Do you like him, James?”

“More than I should,” said James. He cast a glance back toward the entrance to the motel, wondering if Qrow was finished his shower yet. A flush worked its way across his jaw as he remembered why he’d left to begin with. “But it’s not possible.”

“Isn’t it?” asked Ozpin. “How has he fared with everything else he’s seen?”

James sighed again and looked up to the stars, tracing the constellations with his gaze. “Fine. He’s… he hasn’t reacted to _anything._ ”

“Then why are you so scared?” asked Ozpin.

“You know why,” said James, clenching his fist at his side.

“I do,” agreed Ozpin. “James, I cannot say I know what you’re going through, but I know something of hiding who you are from potential partners out of fear.” James nodded, pressing his lips together even though Ozpin couldn’t see him. “But,” said Ozpin, voice wavering slightly, “I know that, sometimes, the risk is worth the reward.”

“And if it’s a mistake?” asked James, voice tight.

Ozpin hummed. “Then it is. Give it time, James. You have another, what, week together?”

“Yes,” said James. “About.”

“Precisely,” said Ozpin. “Feel it out. If he’s worth the risk – whether for casual sex or for something more – then you’ll know. But don’t let the chance pass you by due to hesitation. It may be a mistake, James, but who knows, perhaps it will end up being the best mistake you make this summer.”

James chuckled, partially due to Ozpin’s words and partially from his own discomfort. “Ever the romantic, Ozpin. Has it ever occurred to you that I’m perfectly happy alone and Qrow is just…”

“Stress relief?” asked Ozpin, wryly.

“Something like that,” said James. He checked his watch. “I should go.”

“Indeed,” said Ozpin.

“Goodnight, Father!” called Penny over the phone.

“Goodnight, Penny. Love you,” replied James.

“Love you too!” called Penny. Then Ozpin’s chuckle returned to the phone.

“Goodnight, James.”

“Goodnight, Ozpin.”

James hung up and stuffed his phone in his pocket, glancing up at the sky. He watched the stars glitter above him for a long moment before pushing off the wall and heading back inside.

He needed a shower and he needed food. He’d deal with everything else, including Qrow, later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	11. Echo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more things change...

James didn’t sleep well that night. Between his phone call with Ozpin and his overhearing Qrow, there was too much spinning around and around in his mind for James to sleep properly. Instead, he ended up tossing and turning throughout the night, and he finally gave up trying to sleep around four in the morning.

He shoved himself out of bed and sighed, feet on the floor, elbows on his legs, and head in his hands. His head throbbed dully and that throbbing slowly spread through the rest of his body, leaving him quivering and wanting to grab more painkillers.

He still had another hour before he was allowed to take his morning dose. Fantastic.

With a sigh, James got to his feet, mind swirling with pain and with thoughts of last night, and shuffled into the bathroom. He locked the door, switched on the shower, and stripped. Stepping under the hot spray, James couldn’t help the low groan that slipped from his lips. He’d showered last night, but it had been a quick, hurried thing with not nearly enough hot water.

This was infinitely more pleasurable – hot water poured down his back and he tilted his head to let the spray hit his face as well.

Half the showers in the motels they’d been to didn’t have heads high enough for him to do this. Hell, half the showers in _hotels_ he stayed at for work didn’t, either. The joys of being over six feet. He didn’t have words for how grateful he was that this one did. After everything else, being able to take a nice shower without becoming a human bendy straw was the highlight of the last twenty-four hours.

The heat of the shower, despite the humid summer heat, was more than enjoyable. James let himself stand in it, revelling in the warmth that took the slight chill that always clung to his metal half. As he stood there, standing in the spray of the shower, he couldn’t help but remember last night. And, in thinking about last night, he couldn’t help but remember who else had been in this shower, not twelve hours prior.

_Qrow._

James grimaced, rubbing at his temples to try and clear the shitty headache he had. The throbbing in his head matched the slow churning of his stomach. He shifted forward and braced an arm against the wall, resting his forehead on it, and closed his eyes, letting the water pour down his back. The rhythm of the water matched the rhythm of his headache, and both drove themselves down into the rest of his body, leaving him quivering from the staccato pulses of pain that danced along his spine, behind his eyes, and into his joints.

God, he needed to relax. All this tension was just making everything worse.

He wondered how Qrow did it. Despite everything that had happened in the last few days, he seemed to be handling it pretty well. Sure, he was tense, but not to the degree James was, and not enough to give him the same headaches that James was dealing with. Presumably, anyway.

Though, in James’ defense, he did have a partially metal spine leaning up into his skull. That tended to amplify headaches.

How did Qrow do it?

Images from the previous night – lying on the motel bed while listening to Qrow’s quiet moans from the shower – floated up to greet James.

He flushed and ducked his head a bit further in the shower, biting his lower lip. His mind wandered against his will, bringing up images of Qrow in the very shower he stood in now. Images he’d tried so very hard to avoid the night before.

Would he face the wall or put his back to it? Qrow struck him as the type to put his back to it when he was alone, so he could arch into his own touch more easily. It could lead to slipping, but he doubted Qrow cared. Maybe even found it thrilling.

James would change that, if he stood in the shower alongside Qrow. He’d make Qrow face the wall, pressing him toward it and surround him from behind, stroking Qrow off while he pushed into him.

If Qrow made that much noise alone, James wondered how he’d sound in the shower, amplified by the room, with James alongside him. With James pressed into him. With James…

James shook it off, face hot and entire body flushing with want. He’d gone hard during his drifting fantasies and now the dull ache of arousal and want pooled low in his stomach, mixing with everything else that lingered in his body.

It was wrong. He and Qrow had agreed to stop their sexual encounters if they weren’t going to be mutual. Getting off while thinking about Qrow would betray that, wouldn’t it? But Qrow had done the same thing last night, hadn’t he? What made it so different for James to do it as well?

_What makes you think he was thinking about you?_ The low question in the back of James’ mind made him grimace. But he did know, in a way. With everything else that had happened that day, it only made sense that Qrow had been thinking about him and not anyone else. Especially after his little _incident_ in the car, before James had kicked him out.

He still regretted that. Yes, what Qrow had said was wrong, but kicking him out had led to an entirely different mess.

At least now Qrow wouldn’t do it again.

But it still stung.

James didn’t know if it would ever stop stinging. He’d trusted Qrow, and Qrow had said something he shouldn’t have.

But lingering on that wouldn’t solve anything, especially not the problem he was currently having.

James rolled his shoulders and shifted his hips, trying to find relief where he knew he wouldn’t find it. There were two options to deal with this: cold water or his hands, and he really didn’t want to give up his relaxing warm shower. Especially not when it was slowly but surely pulling the aches and tension from his muscles.

James sighed and shifted from leaning on his left arm to leaning on his right. Right-handed or not, it was easier this way.

It was always easier this way.

He shifted some more, widening his stance a bit in order to brace himself. If he lost his legs, he didn’t want to go down in a heap. Durable or not, that would just end in pain and embarrassment when Qrow inevitably had to come find him.

At least he didn’t have to worry about any sort of mess.

James wrapped his left hand around his metal cock, sucking in a breath as his warm skin met cool metal. _Oh._

James stroked himself slowly, trying not to focus too much on the texture under his hand and instead focusing on the sensation from the other side. On the slow build of pleasure that curled into the base of his spine and in his toes, spreading through his body alongside the flush of warmth that slithered under his skin.

He shuddered as his skin grew warm, the hot water adding to it and leaving him panting in the steam as he picked up his pace and worked himself toward release.

Images of Qrow filled his mind, half wanted and half against his will. He thought of Qrow, spread out under him as James sucked his cock. Of the noises Qrow made both times – loud and keening, with an undercut of want that had left James shuddering as he worked Qrow’s cock. Of the way Qrow had jerked under his touch, arching into his own orgasm and into James’ touch.

James bit his lower lip and let out a soft noise of frustration, cursing under his breath. He smacked his head off his arm and sucked in a sharp breath through his nose. Heat and pleasure curled up around him, building low in his stomach until it pulled at his every muscle.

He arched into his own touch, hand moving faster now as his mind forewent any sort of memory and latched onto fantasy. Qrow, beneath him, arching and keening, hands digging into his shoulders, as James thrust into him. Qrow, clenching around him and whispering his name like a prayer.

Qrow, cursing as he lost control and spilled across his own stomach, before grinning up at James and whispering his name again.

James cursed, smacking his hand on the cracked tiles as his orgasm slammed into him. He bit his lower lip to quiet the rest of the noise. Pleasure washed over him in waves, hips twitching into his remaining strokes. His breathing was loud in the shower, despite the spray.

As he came down, he sighed quietly and slumped against the wall, eyes closed.

_Damn it._

* * *

 

When James came out of the shower, he wasn’t expecting Qrow to be awake. And he definitely was not expecting the way Qrow turned red and looked away from him the moment James caught his gaze.

James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“This isn’t going to be a problem, is it?” asked James, exhaustion and frustration clear in his voice.

“No, no problem,” said Qrow, shaking his head. “Everyone jerks off, Jimmy, just uh, didn’t expect, I mean I figured you did, but um.” Qrow cleared his throat, cheeks flushed and gaze on the shitty motel blankets. “Breakfast?” His voice cracked as he spoke and James sighed.

“Just let me take my painkillers.”

* * *

 

To describe the short drive to the local diner as painful would have been an understatement. James spent the entire time wondering if Qrow was going to proposition him and he figured Qrow was probably spending the entire time debating propositioning him again.

James really, really hoped he didn’t. He didn’t want to deal with that again. It was one thing to think about Qrow when he jerked off – Qrow was attractive, he could admit to that. But it was another thing entirely to sleep with the guy, especially the way James wanted to.

It wasn’t happening.

He thought they’d settled this, but it had just led the two of them to jerking off in the shower while the other was less than ten feet from them.

_Great._

As they took their seats in the diner, the waiter came up and took their orders for coffee – James got dark roast. He was going to need it today.

Neither one of them spoke until after their orders had been taken, whereupon Qrow took it upon himself to start organizing the jams by rainbow order.

“Qrow, they’re supposed to be alphabetical,” said James. “Or by number of jams.”

“They look better in rainbow,” said Qrow, placing the marmalade between the strawberry and the weird lemon looking one. He started sorting out the rest of the reds in the little stand, stacking them up by shade.

James sighed and eyed the jams. “Shouldn’t you be ordering them by rank?” asked James.

Qrow cocked his head to one side and spun the little packet of blueberry jam he was holding between his fingers. James wasn’t sure how he did it. It seemed like it defied all the laws of physics he knew, and a few that maybe he and the rest of the universe weren’t yet aware of.

“Strawberry is best,” said Qrow, after a minute. “Then raspberry, then blueberry. Marmalade is for old ladies who need citrus but hate oranges.” He turned his attention to James. “Plus, you can do a lot of things with strawberries. Eat them as jam, or with chocolate.” He swirled the little packet on the table and cracked a sly smile at James. “’Course, jam isn’t the _only_ spread you can make…” James swallowed hard, but before Qrow could continue, his phone rang.

He sighed, checked it, and sighed again. “It’s Raven. I gotta take this.” He got up out of his seat, saying ‘Yello?’ as he went. Once he was out of sight, James sighed and slumped in his booth, hands over his face.

God, this was going to be an interesting day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	12. Carnival Candy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on, though it all comes back around to your insecurities eventually. Sorry, James.

Qrow drove that day. Not because James was in too much pain to drive, but because he was fairly certain his pain killers had officially killed his ability to drive for at least an hour or two. The world was a little fuzzy around the edges and James couldn’t quite focus enough to be sure he wouldn’t accidentally drive them into a ditch.

So, Qrow drove, James half dozed, and the two made their way through Colorado and further toward their destination in Sacramento.

It was after one of James’ impromptu naps that Qrow finally started speaking. It was probably a little after two in the afternoon and they’d been on the road for four hours already. They’d stopped once for food, but that was about it.

“So I gotta ask,” said Qrow. James looked over at him and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. “Why is it that you’ve got this fancy company card and you can do whatever you want because Accounting likes you so much or something…”

“Or something,” agreed James, lips twitching into a half-amused smile. Somehow, with the sun shining down on them and the air conditioning causing a low hum in the car, things seemed calmer between the two. James didn’t think it would last, but he was content to enjoy it for the moment.

“Right, so why do we keep getting diner food and sleeping in shitty motels?” asked Qrow. He drummed his fingers across the steering wheel and cocked an eyebrow at James. “Seems to me like it’s kind of a waste of a good thing.”

James chuckled and shook his head, the pain killers wearing off but the pain not returning, for once. It left him sort of floating, content and alert all at once. “I don’t want to cause any more problems for them than I already am. Besides, I don’t mind the diner food or the motels.” He raised an eyebrow at Qrow, giving him a flat look. “Besides,” he said, tone going dry, “aren’t you used to this level of comfort? You _are_ a trucker.”

With a quiet laugh, Qrow nodded to James. “Yeah, true. Kind of holding out for one nice hotel before this ends though.”

Without thinking, James replied, “One before this is all over. I’ll even get a place with room service and a continental breakfast.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Qrow, grinning.

The two kept on, talking about nothing in particular. Qrow brought up stories about his trucking adventures, telling James all about the interesting truckers he’d met and the places he’d seen in his trips across North America. Apparently his favourite trucker buddy was a guy with a really weird love of bugs. He even had a scorpion he took with him on long trips. James wasn’t sure how that worked, but hey, if it made the guy happy, it was fine by him.

James drifted as they drove, throwing in his own stories of cross-country travel while he could. They talked about strange toll roads, creepy haunted houses, and weird things they’d found abandoned on the sides of highways. James’ favourite was an exercise bike covered in bras. Qrow’s was a person-sized lava lamp filled with many, smaller, lava lamps.

James was more curious as to how the person had managed to fill a lava lamp full of lava lamps _and_ have it still function as a lava lamp – and did the smaller lava lamps work as well? – than how it came to be on the highway.

Somehow, they managed to pass another four hours together, and James was glad for it. Things had been too awkward the last few days and he was tired of it. It was nice to just talk to Qrow – as a friend – rather than try and figure out everything else.

Eventually, the two reached their latest destination – a small town that _apparently_ was currently having a carnival. Qrow broke into a wide grin when he saw it and looked at James, who only sighed.

“I take it you want to go?” he asked.

“ _Fuck yes_ ,” breathed Qrow. “Raven and I used to spend so much time in these things. Cheap food, warm rides, and a lot of places to hide. If you were lucky, you could camp out in the service buildings and sleep there when it was cold.”

James faltered and looked to Qrow, wondering what he was supposed to say about that. He wondered if there was anything he _could_ say about that. “Uh…”

“All right!” said Qrow, parking in the carnival’s parking lot. “Let’s go stuff our faces and throw up on the tilt-a-hurl.”

James blinked. Subject change? He could handle that. “Don’t you mean tilt-a-whirl?” he asked, getting out of the car at the same time Qrow did.

Qrow grinned at him over the top of the car. “Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’. “Shall we?” James nodded and the two headed for the entrance to the carnival. The sun was only just starting to set, and it was a little after six-thirty in the evening. It’d be another two hours before the sun was down completely, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t paint the sky golden long before then.

Qrow stuffed his hands in his pockets and James pulled on his glove as they headed for the ticket booth. He didn’t have to wear it, but the stickiness of the carnival made him feel it was necessary. He didn’t want something small or sticky to end up in the joints and leave his right hand useless and cut the night short.

Besides, he wasn’t too keen on doing maintenance around Qrow. It was one thing to acknowledge that he was half made of metal. It was another thing entirely to see him work on his body as though it was nothing more than another machine.

It was, but it wasn’t. It was part of him. Much more than just metal and circuitry and power cells.

“We need to get shitty carnival food,” said Qrow, digging out his wallet. James waved him off and pulled out his own wallet, passing some bills to the bored looking ticket taker, who handed them two strips of tickets.

“Do you _want_ to get food poisoning?” asked James, raising an eyebrow at Qrow.

“Maybe,” said Qrow, grinning. He pulled a hand out of his pocket and slapped James on the back. “Come on, Jim, live a little.”

James rolled his eyes at Qrow. “My definition of ‘living’ doesn’t include poisoning my body with foods from questionable sources.”

“Hey, I’m still here, right?” said Qrow, shrugging. He caught James’ hand and pulled him into the carnival, which was already filling up with people, despite the in-between hour of the evening. People traveled in packs and huddles, pointing at the many rides, games, and food stands that littered the large field. High overhead was a massive ferris wheel, one of the biggest James had ever seen at a carnival. He let his gaze track its movements.

“So, what did you want to do first?” asked James, dragging his attention back to Qrow. He focused on Qrow instead of everything else around him – the sounds of shrieking children and the music from the games, the smells of questionable foods and body odours from such close proximity to other people, and the feel of the sun beating down on his face and head, pressing heat along with everything else into his senses.

“Cotton candy,” said Qrow. “You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten carnival cotton candy. Oh! And then we should get candy corn.”

“Why?” asked James, following Qrow as the other man struck off toward the line of food booths. James grimaced at the smell, but tried to hide it. The combination of corn dogs, cotton candy, and a dozen deep fried things that probably shouldn’t have been deep fried wasn’t exactly his idea of fine cuisine. He believed the term was ‘quease-ine’, according to Glynda.

“They’re like brothers, Jim. You gotta eat them both. Oh! Then we have to get ice cream and chocolate jimmies.”

James started, nudging around an older couple that was giggling over a shared joke. “I’m sorry, chocolate _what?_ ” The image of himself, covered in chocolate, came to mind, but he shook it off. That couldn’t possibly be what Qrow was talking about.

Qrow paused, and James nearly fell into him, before turning to squint up at James. “You mean to tell me the west coast doesn’t have _chocolate jimmies?_ ” The scandal in his voice was enough to make James feel like an idiot. “They’re sprinkles, Jim! Chocolate sprinkles!”

“Then why not just call them that?” muttered James.

Qrow gave him a flat look that reminded James far too much of Ruby and Yang. “Because they’re not _regular_ sprinkles, they’re jimmies.”

“You’re insufferable,” said James, putting a hand on his face.

“Yeah, so?” asked Qrow. He fell into place next to James, bumped their hips together, and then grabbed James’ wrist to drag him off toward the food stands.

James relented, allowing himself to be dragged into the medley of mostly unpleasant sounds and smells that was the row of food stalls.

Qrow shoved him cotton candy and grabbed himself one, grinning at James over the pink puffs of spun sugar. James rolled his eyes but indulged Qrow by pulling off a piece and popping it into his mouth.

The sugar hit his tongue and teeth immediately, making him grimace against the sharpness of it. It dissolved and James made a face, licking his teeth to get rid of it.

Qrow snickered. “You look like you ate a lemon.”

“God, I feel like I did,” said James. He shuddered, shaking his head. “Eugh. You can have the rest.” He handed his cotton candy off to Qrow, who grinned and shoved the two together, sticking the two paper funnels in one hand.

“You really never had this?” asked Qrow, eating the cotton candy straight off the funnel without his hands. A piece stuck to his stubble and James went to point it out, then shrugged and let it go.

It was a bit of an improvement, honestly.

Qrow and James circled together through the carnival, pointing out strange rides and things they saw along the way. Qrow scoffed at the concept of a bearded lady, pointing out how unbelievably tasteless it was ‘in this day and age’ and James whole-heartedly agreed. He knew a few bearded ladies, actually, and it seemed rude to use them as a ‘cheap carnival trick’.

Eventually, the two ended up circling around to the centre of the carnival, where the ferris wheel was. James stared up at it, his hands comfortably in his pockets and his entire body relaxed despite the noise and crowd around him.

“Want to?” asked James, nodding to the ferris wheel. Qrow stared up at it, head tilting back and eyes going wide. The colour drained out of his face and he swallowed visibly, licking his lips.

“Oh god, _no_ ,” said Qrow, voice coming out hoarse and shaky. He took a step back from the ferris wheel and shook his head. “No, no, I… I don’t do heights.”

James remembered. Planes. It stood to reason that Qrow would be scared of heights then, too. Or had he said he was scared of heights initially too? James didn’t remember.

“Are you sure?” asked James, unable to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He really wanted to go up in the ferris wheel, he hadn’t been up in one in years.

“Yeah I’m…” Qrow trailed off. James caught the way Qrow frowned as he looked to James, then Qrow sighed. “You know what? Why not? It won’t kill me.” He swallowed hard and side-eyed the ferris wheel. “In theory, anyway.”

James couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. He slung an arm around Qrow’s shoulder and led him to the relatively short line. Qrow was vibrating under his arm, but he didn’t pull away or tell James that he didn’t actually want to go. James worried that Qrow was pushing himself into something he didn’t want to, but he was a grown man and he could make his own decisions, so James let it go.

The person at the head of the line took their tickets and let them into one of the swinging seats. He pulled down the bar and Qrow let out something close to a whimper, his skin pale and his knuckles white against the bar as he clung to it.

“Qrow, are you going to be all right?” asked James, looking at Qrow. Qrow gave a shaky nod and James sighed to himself. Qrow was lying through his teeth. James didn’t have to know him that well to know that.

The ferris wheel lurched and Qrow clung harder to the bar, scooting over until he was flush against James’ right side. James tensed for a moment, then, with a thought of ‘what the hell?’, he lifted his arm and slid it around Qrow’s shoulders, allowing Qrow to press himself even closer.

“We’ll be fine,” murmured James into his ear.

Qrow groaned as their seat started moving upward.

“Qrow, breathe,” said James. Qrow sucked in a sharp breath and pressed his face into James’ chest, mumbling something James couldn’t make out. “What was that?” he asked.

“I said, ‘these things are fucking death traps’,” said Qrow, turning his head so that his mouth only half brushed James’ sweater. James hummed and shook his head, half concerned and half amused.

“They’re perfectly safe,” said James, tightening his arm around Qrow nonetheless. “They have to pass regulations to be used in places like this, Qrow.”

Qrow snorted and then cursed as the seat swung. James glanced down at him and saw Qrow had his eyes squeezed shut as they reached the apex of the wheel. “Nothing in a place like this is safe,” he said.

James raised an eyebrow, despite Qrow’s closed eyes. “Really? And yet you chose to eat the food.”

“Never said it wasn’t good,” said Qrow. He opened his eyes, glanced down, and released one arm from the bar to latch onto James’ sweater instead. A low whimper escaped his lips, leaving James more than a little sympathetic to his situation. “Things can be good without be safe, Jim, s’why barebacking exists.”

James pinked at the words and cleared his throat. “That’s… not even _remotely_ what we’re talking about.”

Qrow shifted so he could glance up at James and grinned. “But it could be.” James gave him a flat look. The wheel started down. The seat swung hard and James and Qrow clung hard to each other for completely different reasons.

“Qrow. We had an agreement,” said James.

“Like you weren’t jacking off to me too,” muttered Qrow, curling tighter against him.

James faltered, mouth opening and closing as he tried to figure out if he could actually lie about that. “That’s…” he started, but he sighed and shook his head. “That’s not the point.”

“Just let me suck you off, come on,” said Qrow, voice pleading. “Then I can prove I don’t mind whatever’s going on between your legs and then you can fuck me across what’s left of America.”

James grimaced. Oh, it was tempting. It was so very, very tempting. But he couldn’t. Not with the risk being so high. “I already said no.”

Qrow sighed. “Right. Sorry.”

The wheel reached the bottom and the two uncurled themselves from each other, looking a tad sheepish. The ticket tacker grinned at them, a twinkle in his eye, then let them out. James wasn’t sure if he was mocking them or not. He chose to believe the latter.

The two headed through the carnival, but their discussion on the ferris wheel had soured the mood. Within twenty minutes, the two were circling back to James’ car and heading out, with James at the wheel.

“Sorry,” said Qrow, glancing from James to the window.

James sighed. “It’s… fine, Qrow.” He hesitated. Then, because it had been on his mind for hours and he couldn’t help it anymore, he added, “It’s not that I don’t want to.” His voice was soft, barely audible. He stared at the steering wheel. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qrow perk and stare at him wide eyes. “I’m scared, Qrow. What happened down there, it’s not easy to process. I want to sleep with you – I want to fuck you, to make you scream my name.” Qrow shivered. “But it’s not that simple.”

“We can make it that simple,” protested Qrow, voice a little hoarse.

James’ lips twitched. “We’ll see,” he said. With that, he drove out of the parking lot and headed for a motel. There had to be _something_ , but James just didn’t know what.

He’d figure it out later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	13. Melting Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another morning, another frustration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn James, back at it again with dat emotional constipation.

Ice cream was not a breakfast food. James had tried to explain this to Qrow half a dozen times in the last twenty minutes, but Qrow insisted that James hadn’t lived until he tried small town ice cream. So, at seven o’clock that morning, Qrow dragged James down to some hole-in-the-wall ice cream parlour and rattled off every half decent combination of scoops he seemed to know.

James was only half listening to Qrow, having missed his morning coffee and his painkillers. He wanted, desperately, to go back and get one or the other. The caffeine would at least keep him awake, and if nothing else, being awake would make it easier to ignore the pain instead of letting it swarm up and swallow him whole.

He rubbed his fingers to his temple, closing his eyes and trying to push it back. He had a kink in his back, about halfway down, that had slowly transformed into a knot on the drive over. It slowly radiated pain through the rest of his back, spreading up through his spine and lingering in his joints across his right side.

Qrow stood at the counter, ordering ice cream. He hadn’t noticed James’ predicament yet. James was hoping he wouldn’t. There’d been enough going on in the last few days as James tried to figure out everything between them. He didn’t need his damn pain adding to that.

Someday, maybe he’d be able to get off the painkillers. Maybe not completely, but enough that he wasn’t as dependent on them as he currently was. It got frustrating, from time to time, trying to keep track of them when he had other things to do. Sure, he was used to the routine by now, but that didn’t change that he had better things to do with his time than try and remember them.

God, sometimes he hated the dependency. Sure, it helped him survive, but it felt like a crutch.

Though that was probably just years of anti-medicine talk from his high school years leaking into his head. Fantastic.

Someday he’d get rid of all the influence his father had had on him. But today was not that day.

“Hey, got us ice cream,” said Qrow, sliding into the seat across from James. James straightened up and smiled at Qrow, though it was a weak and shaky thing. Qrow narrowed his eyes at James as he slid the other man his bowl of ice cream. There were three different mini-scoops in the little paper bowl, with a plastic purple spoon poking out of the middle one. “You okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” said James. “Just tired.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” He narrowed his eyes at James and James figured Qrow probably didn’t believe that completely. He probably could tell that James had a headache or was in pain or something of the sort. Qrow was pretty good at reading him, despite the short amount of time they’d known each other.

Frankly, James wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

“I could give you a massage, when we get back,” said Qrow, poking at his ice cream. James stared at him, eyes going wide as he picked up the tiny spoon. “Nothing weird, but you look like you’re in pain. I used to give them to Rae and Summer when they were pregnant.” He shrugged. “I’m pretty good.”

James opened his mouth, closed it, and found he didn’t have any real protests. In fact, the idea of getting a massage, especially from someone that already knew what he felt like on both sides, was… appealing.

“My right side is trickier,” mumbled James. He stuffed a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth and was immediately overwhelmed with the combination of chocolate fudge and orange creamsicle. He blinked, swallowed, and licked his lips. It wasn’t bad, actually.

“I can figure it out,” said Qrow, swirling his ice cream together. “You willing to let me try? No funny business, promise.”

James eyed Qrow across the table, debating if he could trust those words after everything else in the last few days. But Qrow seemed perfectly innocent – or as innocent as a guy like Qrow could seem, anyway. He smiled warmly at James as James eyed him, still eating his ice cream despite the smile.

James poked at his ice cream and took a breath. “Sure,” he said. “When we get back to the motel.”

Qrow grinned and stabbed his spoon at James. A dollop of some kind of ice cream splatted onto the checked table. “Holding you to that,” said Qrow. And oh, if that didn’t draw up the last time Qrow had said that, and the context. “Now, eat your ice cream.”

James snorted. “This still isn’t breakfast,” he said.

“What’s your point?” asked Qrow, before digging in again. James rolled his eyes and joined him. The sweetness was almost too much, this early in the morning, but it wasn’t bad. James cracked a smile as Qrow started telling terrible jokes.

Maybe ice cream for breakfast wasn’t the worst idea Qrow had ever had.

* * *

 

James’ fingers hesitated on the hem of his shirt, his gaze flicking up to Qrow, who was smoothing out the blanket on the bed.

Qrow glanced at James and rolled his eyes. “I’ve literally seen you in nothing but boxers. You’re _fine._ ” With narrowed eyes, James pulled off his sweater and let it drop onto his temporary bed. He didn’t miss the way Qrow’s gaze swept appreciatively across his chest and stomach, and James fought the urge to fold his arms. Instead, he crossed the room to Qrow and sat down on the bed, raising an eyebrow.

Qrow’s lips twitched up on one side and he sat down next to James. “You gonna lay down?” he asked.

James nodded and shifted until he was laying on the bed on his stomach, his head pillowed on his folded arms. He tilted his head to look back at Qrow, who was watching him with pink ears.

“You coming?” asked James, and he didn’t miss the way Qrow swallowed visibly at the word. So much for no ‘funny business’. But then, as Qrow had said, you couldn’t help what you liked. So long as he didn’t try anything, James was fine.

He was too tired and too sore to really care about much in the way of arousal or sexual advances.

Qrow climbed over James’ legs, settling on James’ thighs. He was resting on his knees, as far as James could tell, and when he leaned forward, James could feel Qrow’s thighs brushing the back of his legs.

“You care if I try a few things?” asked Qrow.

“No,” said James, half against his arm. “I don’t know what will work, either.”

Qrow hummed and ran his fingers down his spine, drawing a shiver from James. He pressed his lips together to hide a shaky breath and let himself relax into the bed.

Leaning forward, Qrow dug his palms and fingers into James’ back. As James suspected, there was significantly more give on his left side than his right, but he could feel the pressure in his right, even if it didn’t give as far. Of course, his back and chest were closer to synthetic, metallic skin than the prosthetics of his arm and leg, but they were still stiffer than the rest of his back and chest.

It was strange, but if Qrow wasn’t bothered by it, then James wasn’t going to dwell on it. He’d long come to peace with most of his body, and he needed to remember that it was his feelings on himself that mattered and not Qrow’s.

Even if knowing Qrow liked how he looked helped.

“You good?” asked Qrow, fingers kneading between his shoulder blades.

James hummed. “Yes. Thank you.”

Qrow leaned into his movements, working out the knots in James’ back and shoulders with quiet hums and sounds of concentration. James let himself relax into the too-thin mattress, closing his eyes and revelling in the touch. The deep kneads fluctuated between pleasurable and edging on painful, but James wasn’t bothered by either. It was… refreshing, to be able to just lay back and relax as the pain in his back faded away without the fog of painkillers to cloud it.

He’d still take them later of course, before they left to drive for the day, but until then, he was content to let Qrow’s hands do the work they usually did.

The world fell away to the hands working his back and the weight of Qrow resting on his upper thighs. To the little shifts of Qrow’s body as he tried to find a better angle. To the warmth in James’ body and the low flush of relaxation and pleasure that worked its way across his skin. He pressed his lips together, nostrils flaring on the soft sigh of his breath from time to time.

He could have fallen asleep like this, pressed into the mattress and pleasantly relaxed, but every now and again Qrow found a spot that drew a low noise out of James, and those few moments kept him clinging to awareness despite the pleasant exhaustion in his bones.

On a particularly hard knead, James caught himself letting out a low moan, and, quite suddenly, Qrow’s hands stopped.

James’ eyes fluttered open and he tilted his head to look at Qrow, brow furrowed and eyes half-lidded. Qrow stared back at him, cheeks flushed, lips parted, and eyes wide. His hands hovered an inch off James’ back and, even from this angle, James could see the tips of his fingers were _trembling_.

“Qrow?” murmured James, his voice coming out low and hoarse.

Qrow pressed his lips together and swallowed visibly. “You have no idea what you look like right now, do you?” he whispered. His own voice was low and James eyed the flush that was creeping up Qrow’s neck.

With a frown, James shifted, rolling himself onto his back. Qrow lifted up to let him roll, but settled back on his legs once James was over. James propped himself on his elbows, the world feeling warm and slow despite the confusion that clung to the edge of his awareness.

“Are you all right?” he asked, tilting his head.

Qrow shifted, finally drawing James’ attention to Qrow’s pants.

_Of course._

James swallowed when he caught the tenting in Qrow’s pants, then tilted his head back a bit. “Come here,” he murmured. Qrow stared at him for a second, then clambered a bit higher on him, leaned forward, cupped James’ face in both hands, and kissed him soundly.

James slid his hands to Qrow’s hips, pulling him close as Qrow stretched out his legs to lay atop him. They traded lazy, open-mouthed kisses, Qrow noticeably warmer and more eager than James. He wriggled against James, cheeks flushing and little noises slipping between them as Qrow seemed to alternate between trying to find a place where he wasn’t rubbing against James and trying to find the best place to rub against James.

James let his hands cup Qrow’s ass, squeezing and shifting to drag Qrow against him. He could feel the heat working itself between them, leaving him just as hard and eager as Qrow. Qrow whined quietly against his mouth and pulled back, resting their foreheads together. He panted, eyes closed and hips rolling with the movement of James’ hands.

Abruptly, he stopped, planting his hands on James’ chest and pushing himself half upright. “Jim,” croaked Qrow. He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. “Tell me what you want me to do here. You want to get off? You want me to go take a shower?”

“I…” James faltered, staring at Qrow, who stared down at him with enough lust and hope mixed together that James’ chest _hurt_ at his next words. “I _can’t._ ”

Qrow nodded, lips twisting into something bitter. “’Course not.” He shoved himself off James and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. James jumped at the sound, then cursed under his breath when he heard the water turn on.

 _Coward_ , he thought, putting his hands over his face. Then, because he knew it wasn’t going away, he slid a hand down his pants, pressing his lips together to hide his noises as he stroked himself in time with Qrow’s moans emanating from the next room.

It was the worst, and most guilt-ridden, orgasm he’d had the entire trip.

Neither he, nor Qrow, could look at the other as they packed up and left, thirty minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	14. Broken Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boys.

James drove while Qrow slept on, curled up in the passenger’s seat, oblivious to the world and to James’ internal struggle. It was almost four in the afternoon and James knew they should be stopping for food in the near future, but he couldn’t bring himself to wake up Qrow just yet. His mind was running a million miles an hour and he wasn’t sure how to stop it. Over and over, his mind ran through the last few days. The awkwardness, the frustration, the want.

He couldn’t shake it, the way he wanted Qrow. Couldn’t deny it. Couldn’t fight it. All he could do was shove it aside and hope for the best. Hope that, at some point, he could finally get over his attraction and focus on something else. Hopefully before they reached Sacramento. They were getting close now, currently passing through a large forest near the edge of the Colorado border. Before the end of the day, they’d pass over into Utah, and then they were two, maybe three days out.

James wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not. On the one hand, he didn’t want to say goodbye to Qrow. Even in the few days they’d known each other, they’d ended up good friends, awkwardness be damned. It was nice, to bond with someone like that. And rare as well.

On the other hand, once they reached Sacramento, James could forget about his desires and go back to just being the celibate father of the world’s best daughter. Even if Qrow lived in town (and who knew for how long) he could at least avoid the guy. Sacramento was a big place, even if Raven and her partners were one of his neighbours.

James sighed, soft and frustrated, and looked to Qrow again. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, his face unwrinkled and his nose twitching with the flickering movements of his eyes behind their lids. James was half tempted to reach out and brush Qrow’s bangs from his face, but the gesture felt too intimate.

Too close.

James kept driving. There was nothing on the radio, out here in the forests. They were too far from the towns. By James’ count, they had another two hours or so before they found hit a town they could stay in for the night. The GPS wasn’t exactly being forthcoming at the moment.

Another sigh escaped James’ lips and he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He needed to get out and stretch, possibly take a short walk. A bathroom break wouldn’t go amiss either. But he wasn’t going to do that last one, even out in the woods, when there was a chance Qrow might see something.

Not that Qrow would try, given that he was asleep and that was _creepy,_ but the worry remained.

He was tired of worrying. Tired of being stressed. He should have just taken the damn plane. If he had, this entire mess would have never happened. He wouldn’t have gotten a friendship only to ruin it because he couldn’t be honest and control himself. He wouldn’t be risking his friendship with Qrow’s family by dancing such a thin line with the other man.

James needed a reprieve, or a sign. Something, anything, that could tell him that things would work out, that he wasn’t completely lost, and that maybe there was hope of salvaging this friendship, before he ruined it any further.

Beside him, Qrow stirred, murmuring something in his sleep. He wrinkled his face and blinked a few times, eyes fluttering open before he squinted, looking around.

“How long I been out?” he asked, voice raspy and only half there.

“About an hour,” replied James in a quiet voice. “Feeling all right?”

Qrow nodded and sat up properly, rolling his neck. “Yeah, fine. Sorry for passing out on you.”

James said, “It’s fine, Qrow, don’t worry about it.” His voice was still low, and he couldn’t quite keep the strain from it that came from being trapped in his thoughts for so long. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qrow furrow his brow and cock his head at James, but James ignored it. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road and tried not to think too much about everything that had run through his head while Qrow had been asleep.

It was a lost cause, but at least he tried.

“Where are we?” asked Qrow, looking around.

“Edge of Colorado,” said James. “We’ll be in Utah in a few hours, then we’ll find a place to stop for a night.”

Qrow nodded, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. He yawned and blinked a few times, shaking himself. “All right. There anything to eat?”

“Probably,” said James, still not looking away from the road. He watched Qrow out of the corner of his eye. Saw the way Qrow gave him a confused look and mouthed ‘okay’ with a worried expression. Then, Qrow twisted around in his seat and grabbed his bag from the back. He dug around in it and James heard the crinkling of a bag of chips. Qrow dropped into his seat again, twisting around and tearing open the bag.

“Want some?” asked Qrow, holding out the bag.

James shook his head. There was a pain building in his right hip and he did his best to ignore it. He could keep driving. Besides, he didn’t want to take anymore painkillers than he had to today. He’d already taken one dose, he didn’t need to accidentally knock himself out again. It wouldn’t be fair to Qrow, anyway, seeing as Qrow had just woken up.

“Not hungry,” said James.

Qrow shrugged and munched on his chips.

The two drove in mostly silence for a while, James focusing far too much on the road while Qrow munched on his chips. James kept seeing Qrow shift out of the corner of his eye. Not the uncomfortable shift of previous car trips, it was more the shift of someone who had something to say but wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

James knew that shift well. He’d used it a few times himself in the last few months. Mostly at meetings where he’d wanted to point out the ridiculousness of certain aspects of a design. Things he usually ended up changing in private and getting permission for without notifying the original crew.

Not typically allowed, but that was the benefit of being an expert in the field. People tended not to question you nearly as much as they should.

James usually preferred it over anything else.

James swallowed and tried not to think about how uncomfortable the silence that settled over the two was. He wanted to turn on the radio, but he knew nothing would play. He wondered if asking Qrow to play music on James’ phone would be too much, but that would probably just be acknowledging the awkward silence.

“Hey, Jim?” asked Qrow, leaning back as far as he could in the upright seat.

James let his gaze flick to Qrow and caught the way Qrow furrowed his brow at him, looking hopeful.

“Yes?” he asked, flicking his gaze back to the road. The forest surrounded them on all sides, the trees brilliant shades of green and yellow on bark a thousand shades of brown. Sunlight streamed down from above, and a strip of blue sky watched over them from between the trees.

It would have been calming, in any other situation. As it stood, it simply made James realize how isolated they were. Probably miles from civilization. Probably miles from any sort of house.

And miles from any sort of distraction to James’ growing anxieties.

Qrow tilted his head to one side, obviously looking back at the road as well. He licked his lips and James swallowed. He opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated. “Do you hear that?” asked Qrow, cocking his head to one side.

James frowned, tilting his head to see if he could hear what Qrow was asking after. At first, he wanted to say ‘no’. The only sound was the rumbling of the car and the wind that washed over the windshield.

Then, he heard it. A clunk. It sounded again. Then a hiss. Smoke started billowing out from under the hood. James cursed and pulled onto the shoulder of the road, stopping. He and Qrow stared at the hood, then turned and looked to one another.

Qrow let out a soft ‘huh’. “Well,” said Qrow. “Guess we should figure out what that’s about.” He climbed out of the car, stretching, and, after a belated pause, James followed after him. Qrow popped the hood on the car and leaned back as smoke billowed out from the engine. He coughed and waved his hand. It didn’t smell like gas, James noted, or even burning. It more looked like the car had just overheated.

Considering it was a hundred and ten degrees outside, that made complete sense. James was already sweating. It beaded across his forehead and the back of his neck, threatening to drip down into his clothes at any moment. He wished he was wearing a t-shirt, but he’d chosen a button-down shirt today and an undershirt beneath it.

“Yeah, I got no ideas,” said Qrow. He dug his phone out of his back pocket and punched in a number. James waited, keeping his distance from the car. Even from a foot back, he could feel the heat coming off it, most of which was probably due to it overheating, now that he thought about it.

“Hey, Rae,” said Qrow. He stepped into the shade beneath a few trees on the side of the road. “Yeah, things are going well.” A pause, he abruptly flushed and cleared his throat. “ _No_ , Raven.”

James tried not to think about what she could be asking Qrow to make him flush like that.

“Listen, the car overheated. Uh-huh, uh-huh.” Qrow was nodding as he spoke. He strolled back over to the car and peered into it. “Yeah, it’s way too hot for me to touch it.” A pause. He winced, holding the phone away from his ear. Even from here, James could hear Raven’s indignant shouting. “Right,” said Qrow, putting the phone back to his ear. “So, what do you want me to do?” Another pause. Qrow sighed and slumped forward, pouting. James did a double-take, not sure he was seeing that correctly.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks sis,” said Qrow, rolling his eyes. He hung up and shoved his phone back in his pocket. “Looks like we’re walking.”

James frowned, remembering the GPS. “We’re hours from anything. In this heat, we can’t walk anywhere.”

Qrow waved him off with a roll of his eyes and a casual hand. “GPS is wrong. I know where we are, Jimbo, used to take this road on long hauls. There’s a truck stop maybe thirty minutes from here. Too small for GPS to pick up.” He flashed a grin at James and went back over to the car, opening the door and pulling his bag from the backseat. “Shall we? We can get someone to come grab the car with us when we get there.”

James sighed and opened the door to the car. He put the windows up, grabbed his keys, his overnight bag, and locked the car up before shutting the door.

“All right,” he said. “Lead the way.”

Qrow gave him a salute and struck off down the road, James following after. Qrow’s long legs set a quick, but somehow leisurely looking pace, and James strode alongside him. James cast a glance to his car and grimaced.

Half an hour, he told himself. In half an hour, they’d find someone who could drive them back and tow the car. Surely, it would be fine for that long.

And if not, James would be in a _lot_ of trouble.

He followed after Qrow, not saying a word.

Just thirty minutes in the heat with an aching hip, a pounding head, and anxiety dancing up his spine like a living thing.

He could handle this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	15. Overheat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escalation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a very good reason this chapter cuts off where it does, and it's to the tune of roughly 5,000 words.
> 
> See y'all next week. ;)

The walk was torture. James wasn’t often one for hyperbole, but he felt the situation called for it. The Colorado heat beat down through the trees as he and Qrow walked, neither one speaking. Not because it was awkward, as was usually the case with the two, but because a hundred and ten degree weather with high humidity permitted them to such things. They didn’t have the energy to move any faster than a slow walk, let alone try and keep up a conversation.

So James and Qrow stumbled along, the heat sucking at their very souls until James feared that this would be his fate forever. Walking, stumbling, shambling, through a hot Colorado forest in the mid-afternoon, never finding a destination, for all eternity.

Or perhaps the heat was making him dramatic. That was probably the more likely scenario. But that didn’t change how awful it made him feel and how much he wanted it to be over.

Pain splintered up his spine like a living thing, clawing at his right side – hip, leg, shoulder, back – until he wanted to cry out in pain. His chest hurt, heaving from the humidity, and he could feel his right side growing warmer. Maintenance time, then, not that he wanted to, especially not around Qrow. But he couldn’t let his cooling systems go down. Especially not in this weather.

“There it is,” said Qrow in a rough, raspy voice. James followed Qrow’s gaze and saw the truck stop appear, shimmering like a mirage, from between the trees. James could have cried in relief. “C’mon, almost there.”

The last few hundred feet were nothing compared to the rest, and the thought of water, of a bed, of a _shower_ spurred James, and presumably Qrow, on until they reached the door into the stop.

Qrow led, James followed.

The woman at the counter chuckled when she saw them. “You boys look like you saw hell,” she said. She flashed them a crooked smile. James didn’t pay her much attention, instead tipping his head back and letting the air conditioning caress his body until the heat started to ebb away.

“Nice arm,” said the woman. James froze, eyes snapping open as he realized his sleeves were rolled up. He tucked his arm behind his back and cleared his throat, looking away. She simply shrugged, not looking at all bothered.

“You got anyone who can tow?” asked Qrow. He walked over to one of the displays and pulled out two bottles of water, handing one to James before taking the other to be rung up. James rested the bottle on the back of his neck and took a few breaths.

“Mm-hm,” said the woman. “Got a car somewhere then?”

“’Bout a five, ten minute drive, tops,” said Qrow. “Overheated, so we walked.”

She let out a low whistle. “Yeah, go ‘round the back, the boys’ll take you there.” Qrow nodded and patted James in the shoulder – left, not right – before heading out.

James recalled the motel that was attached to the small shop, as well as the diner on the other side. “Don’t suppose you have any rooms available?” he asked.

The woman cocked her head to one side. “Got a single, will that do?” she asked. James’ brain stuttered, trying to remember what the word meant in this context. A single room? Yes, that would be fine. They didn’t need two.

“Yes, sounds fine,” said James. He dug out his wallet and let the woman ring him up for the room, before being handed a key.

It was the last room on the row, the one furthest away from the store. James sighed and trudged down to it, digging out his phone and sending off a quick message to Qrow to tell him where they’d be staying for the night.

He needed a shower, desperately.

Inside, the air conditioner sputtered, the room colder than outside but not nearly to the level of relief as the store. James closed the door, dropped the curtains, and fell onto the bed. He groaned and closed his eyes, his hands over his face.

For two minutes, he laid there, not really thinking about anything other than the slowly cooling sweat on his skin. Then, after those two minutes passed, he sat up, stripped off his shirt, shoes, and socks, and headed into the bathroom.

James tried the taps on the tub. Nothing. He scowled and tried again. Still nothing.

“ _Perfect,_ ” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. _So much for a shower._ With a sigh, James turned to the sink, which, thankfully, did turn on, and settled for splashing water on his face and running his cool, wet hands through his hair. It helped, some, and at least now he wasn’t just coated in his own sweat.

James stumbled back into the room and took a chance to look at it.

One bed.

Oh. Right. That was what a single meant.

James sighed. There was no point in dwelling on it, it wasn’t like he and Qrow could change the room. This was the only one left. Maybe if he slept now, he could prevent any awkwardness tonight and just stay up while Qrow slept. That seemed like a reasonable way to do things. Possibly.

James pinched the bridge of his nose and dug out his painkillers in his bag, swallowing them dry. It’d take a few minutes for them to kick in, but, until then, he could at least lay down.

The bed wasn’t all that comfortable, but James didn’t really care at the moment. He simply settled back onto the mattress and closed his eyes, letting himself drift.

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there, feet dangling off the end of the bed and eyes closed, one hand over his face, air conditioner blowing gently on his bare chest. But, at some point, he had to get back up to deal with his arm and his cooling systems.

He got up, groaning quietly, and opened his bag with clumsy fingers. Outside, the problem had been aggravated by the heat. Inside, the cooling systems weren’t in as much danger, but James didn’t relish the thought of going back outside like this, not when the weather didn’t seem to want to cool down any time soon.

He pulled a small tool kit from his bag and set it down next to him, using one of the small pieces to pop open one of the plates on his shoulder.

The prosthetics were mostly solid, unlike the more robotic looking units that were more commonplace in most amputees. It wasn’t quite like having a flesh arm coated in metal, not really, because there were still quite a few small differences, including the ball joint that compromised his wrist, mostly covered, and another one that comprised his elbow, almost mostly covered, and a third, larger one, that compromised his shoulder – though that one was covered with smaller pieces to give it a more flesh-like shape beneath his shirt – but it was close.

Closer that James had ever thought possible.

James sat on the bed, studying his shoulder as he fixed the few loose wires he knew had caused the problem. The heat, combined with the sweat that had slipped into his prosthetics – his fault, he’d felt the loose plate and hadn’t fixed it, for fear of creeping out Qrow and also because he’d been too damn lazy – had managed to pull a few connections.

By the looks of things, he didn’t have to replace anything, which was a small blessing, and instead simply had to readjust some spots and clean out two of the connections.

It was short work, but taxing nonetheless, especially with the angle he had to take in order to do it. Back home, a spot like this would have been grounds for calling Ozpin. They’d helped him enough times with this since they met, and while they were no mechanic, there was no one James trusted more with his right side than Ozpin, bar himself and Dr. Graham, the woman who’d taken over for Polendina after he’d saved James’ life.

But out here, there was no one he could get to help him. James didn’t trust Qrow enough to ask him that sort of thing and, besides, Qrow didn’t need to know about this part of him. Not yet, anyway.

When James finished the work, he slid the small plat back into place, ensuring that it was secured this time, and put away his tool kit. He tugged his shirt, cool and mostly dry, back on, and went back to the bed.

He’d barely laid back down when the door came open.

It was Qrow, holding up the other key. He was sweaty, but he looked a lot less like death warmed over now, and James briefly saw the glint of his car through the door in the parking space beyond before Qrow shut the door.

“One bed?” asked Qrow, raising an eyebrow. The peace James had found in his resting immediately left him, replaced instead by anxiety that swept up his chest and left him hot and cold all at once.

“Uh,” said James, pushing himself upright.

Qrow snorted and waved him off. “Relax, Jim. I think I can behave myself for one night.”

_What if I can’t?_ James wanted to ask. What if he was the one to break, to push, to finally give up because damn it he didn’t _want_ to do this anymore.

Here was Qrow, standing before him, sweaty, flushed, and just as wound up as James was, and James wanted nothing more than to push him down into the mattress and…

James shook it off, flush rising his cheeks. He rubbed a hand over his face and dropped his head so that Qrow wouldn’t see the heat there.

“Jim, you okay?” asked Qrow. James felt Qrow reach out toward him and shifted back. Heard Qrow clear his throat. “Right. You want first shower or me?” In a quieter voice, one much more frustrated, he added, “Looks like we’re both gonna need one tonight.”

“It doesn’t work,” said James.

Qrow snorted. “Showering? Oh, I know. If it did, I wouldn’t still be picturing you fucking me in your car whenever we got in it.”

James’ entire body went _hot_. Oh, the company car was too small for that, but his car back in Sacramento, the SUV, would be _perfect_ for that. He let out a low noise of frustration and lifted his head to look Qrow in the eye.

“Qrow.” His voice was low, almost a growl, and he saw Qrow swallow, a flushing working its way across Qrow’s jaw.

“Right. Me first,” mumbled Qrow, already halfway to the bathroom.

“The shower doesn’t work,” said James. Qrow froze, one foot in the door. “I already tried; it won’t turn on.”

Qrow let out a low, frustrated whine and his entire body went rigid. “ _Great_ ,” he said, words wound tight. “Fucking _perfect._ ”

James looked at Qrow, who was still facing the bathroom. He took a deep breath. Let his worries flow out as best he could.

He wanted this.

He could do this.

“Qrow?” James asked. Qrow tilted his head and looked back at James. “Come here,” said James, crooking his fingers.

This was it, thought James, as Qrow crossed the room to him and settled in his lap, arms draped over his shoulders. He leaned up and kissed Qrow, sliding his hands under Qrow’s shirt.

This was it, he thought again, as Qrow kissed back and let out a low noise in the back of his throat.

_He could do this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	16. A Lack of Room Service

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't pretend you don't know what this is.
> 
> Also good lord this is almost 6k. What the fuck.

James forced his breathing to stay level even as his heart threatened to pound out of his chest. He was glad he’d fixed his cooling systems before Qrow had gotten back, as the heat in his face and in his groin was quickly growing to be unbearable as he and Qrow continued to kiss. Each one was more intense than the one before and James caught the tremble in his fingertips where his hands rested on Qrow’s hips.

“You gonna back out again?” asked Qrow, pulling back for a moment. His voice was a rasp that drifted air across James’ lips.

James swallowed hard and squeezed his hands on Qrow’s hips. Felt the way Qrow leaned into the touch and leaned into him.

“I guess we’re going to find out,” whispered James. He tilted his head toward Qrow and Qrow met him halfway, drawing them together into a surprisingly gentle kiss.

One kiss bled into two, and two into three, each growing more and more intense. Qrow cupped James’ face in both hands, leading their movements as James gripped Qrow’s hips and hauled them chest to chest. Qrow shivered and pulled back, tossing his shirt off before settling against James again.

When James nipped at his lower lip, Qrow whined, wiggling his hips down into James’. Arousal pooled between them both, the air conditioner in the window doing little to calm the heat that quickly built up all around them.

“Jim,” said Qrow, pulling back just enough to speak. “You still good?”

“Yes,” said James, tugging Qrow back in. Qrow groaned into James’ mouth and tried to push him back onto the bed. With a quiet chuckle, James caught Qrow’s hips and flipped them over before they fell.

Qrow hit the blankets on his back with a soft ‘whump’ and James braced himself above Qrow, grinning.

Qrow swallowed visibly. “That’s kind of hot,” he whispered.

“Good,” said James, and he leaned in to kiss Qrow again. Qrow groaned against his mouth, fingers tangling in James’ hair, and wriggled against the sheets. James braced himself on one arm and focused his energy on kissing Qrow as he settled over the smaller man’s body. Qrow whined and bucked up into him, hips grinding against James’. James cursed and rolled his own, shifting so that he had leverage to do so as well.

Kisses and touches bled together as heat worked up between them, the sound of the air conditioner drowned out by their panting and proximity. Qrow wriggled, shoving one hand down between them to undo his pants. With a grunt, James caught Qrow’s pants and hauled them off, tossing them to the floor. He settled back over Qrow, groping him through his boxers.

Qrow tugged at James’ pants, yanking at them even as he kept kissing James. James helped him out, undoing the button and shoving down his pants so that Qrow could shove them further until James kicked them off completely.

“Jim,” Qrow bit out between clenched teeth. His hips rolled into James’ hard enough to send pinpricks of pleasure racing through James’ body. And oh, Qrow was grinding against him hard enough that he had to feel the difference now.

But he didn’t react. Didn’t hesitate. Didn’t say a word.

James realized he probably didn’t notice, not with both of them like this. Not with Qrow keening underneath him.

“Jim, come on,” Qrow said, cursing as James leaned in and bit at his throat. “ _Please._ ” James’ forehead dropped to Qrow’s shoulder and he groaned, heat racing along his spine and the begging tone racing with it. Qrow nudged at James and James leaned up far enough to grab Qrow’s boxers and shove them off, tossing them somewhere into the room.

Qrow groaned, arching into open air as his cock came free. James let his metallic fingers skim the underside, revelling in the warmth that spread through his cool fingers and the way Qrow shivered beneath his touch.

“Okay,” breathed Qrow as James pulled his hand away. “Okay, your turn.”

James froze, the reality of what he was doing finally crashing into him. He stared down at Qrow, eyes wide, hands planted on other side of Qrow, and swallowed hard. His cock ached in his boxers, straining enough to almost physically _hurt._

“Uh,” said James.

Qrow sighed and dropped his head back to the pillows. He didn’t sound frustrated, just resigned. “If you need to stop, it’s okay,” said Qrow. He looked back at James, head tilting forward. “I won’t mind, promise.”

James stared at Qrow, who stared back at him. It occurred to James that this was the first time Qrow had actually sat back and given him an out. The first time Qrow hadn’t gotten frustrated with himself or James.

_He could do this._

James smiled at Qrow, leaned forward, and kissed him soundly.

_He could do this._

He pulled back and rested his forehead against Qrow’s. Qrow stared back at him, hopeful but not expectant.

_He could do this._

James reached down, took a deep breath, and shoved his boxers off, kicking them onto the floor.

And that was it. He was exposed.

Whatever happened next was all up to Qrow.

James felt his entire body tense and his breathing go sharp and shallow as Qrow’s gaze slowly slid down his body. He knew when Qrow finally saw his cock by the little surprised ‘oh’ Qrow made.

James didn’t know how to place that ‘oh’.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to.

He swallowed hard, a bitter taste rising in his mouth.

“Guess that’s why you were so scared to show me,” murmured Qrow.

James nodded, teeth clenched and lips pulled tight to keep himself from saying something stupid or else whimpering and collapsing.

“Hey,” said Qrow. He reached up and stroked James’ face. “You still game?”

James blinked. What? “Huh?”

“I said, are you still game? You still wanna have sex?” asked Qrow. Qrow brushed his thumb under James’ eyes and James felt the tears that had started to fall. He blinked hard to clear the rest.

“You don’t mind?” asked James.

Qrow cocked his head. “I mean, it works, right? You’ve gotten off on this trip.”

“Yes, it-it works,” said James, cheeks flushing. “I just don’t, uh, shoot, that’s all.”

Qrow raised an eyebrow. “That explains so much,” he said in a quiet voice, mostly to himself. Then, to James, he said, “I don’t mind, Jim. I really don’t. Now, come on, you wanna fuck me or not?”

James flushed, leaning forward and kissing Qrow again, then again, then _again_. Qrow groaned under his touch and tangled his fingers in his hair. James slotted their bodies together, a low groan slipping out of him when his cool cock found friction against Qrow’s thigh.

“You still have something?” asked James as he pulled back. “I know you bought something a few days ago.”

Qrow nodded, his entire face and neck flushing in patchy shades of red. “Yeah, yeah, I got something. Let me up.” He nudged James and James rolled off Qrow. He propped himself up on his elbows to watch Qrow climb up and grab his bag from the floor, digging around in it for a moment.

A triumphant expression crossed his face as he pulled out a box of condoms and a small bottle of lube. He tossed both onto the bed and flashed a grin at James before climbing back onto him.

“There we go,” mumbled Qrow against James’ lips as he leaned in and cupped James’ face to kiss him again. James hummed and leaned into it, rolling his hips up into Qrow’s. Qrow shivered, pulling back from James to rest his forehead against James’ shoulder.

“Fuck, you’re cold,” Qrow hissed out from between his teeth.

James couldn’t help the spike of embarrassment and guilt that shot up his spine. His hands moved to pull away from Qrow, only for Qrow to grab his right and settle it back on his ass.

“It’s hotter than hell, you really think that was a complaint?” asked Qrow, before moving in to kiss James again. “Now come on, flip us back over and get this show on the road.”

James chuckled, but complied, turning them back over and pinning Qrow to the sheets. “Someone’s eager,” he said against Qrow’s skin as he leaned in and nipped at his collarbone. Qrow groaned and tangled his fingers in James’ hair.

“’Course,” said Qrow. He tilted his head back to give James better access and moaned again, eyes fluttering shut. “Been wanting this since I saw you in the bar, just didn’t know how to say anything and… _oh god_ , do that again.” James nipped again, lapping at the small red mark before pulling back to frown at Qrow.

“Really? That soon?” he asked. He ran his hands down Qrow’s chest, moving inward to tease the skin just above his groin.

“Yeah,” said Qrow. He arched into James’ touch and moaned, a patchy flush spreading up his neck and onto his jaw. “Then I got to know you and just wanted you _more._ ” His voice cracked on the last word and he bucked hard into James’ hand, whining, as James cupped Qrow’s cock with his right.

James shook his head and ran his fingers down to stroke just beneath Qrow’s balls, watching the way he shivered under the touch.

“Even after seeing all this?” asked James, nodding down to himself. “I’m not much to look at, Qrow.”

Qrow groaned and rolled his head to one side, hips twitching into James’ fingers. James ran his left hand up Qrow’s chest, tweaking a nipple as he went.

“You’re fucking gorgeous, Jim,” said Qrow, eyes fluttering open to look at James. It was his expression – so open and trusting, that made James’ breath catch. “You know, confidence is a good look on most people.”

James cracked a self-deprecating smile at that and shook his head. “Sure,” he said. Then, before Qrow could say anything, James added. “You know, _confidence_ may be a good look, but…” He lifted his right hand from Qrow and rested it on Qrow’s abdomen, watching the way Qrow shivered under the touch. “Arrogance and cockiness are something else entirely.”

Qrow flashed a grin at James, wiggling his eyebrows. “I dunno, Jim. I think you could do with a little cock in you.”

Rolling his eyes, James reached down and wrapped his right hand around Qrow’s cock, giving one solid _jerk._ Qrow gasped, arching into his touch, entire body flushing.

“Little?” echoed James, raising an eyebrow at Qrow as he slid his hand down to the base of Qrow’s cock.

Qrow whined and propped himself up on his elbows, chest heaving. “In my defense, I’m a hell of a lot smaller than you everywhere else too.”

With a hum, James leaned forward, releasing Qrow’s cock – to which Qrow whined again – and kissed Qrow, pushing him back down onto the bed as he did.

When they pulled back, James smiled at Qrow. “You’re fine.” He took a breath, wondering if he should continue, then plowed ahead. “As for putting a little cock in me…”

Qrow’s eyes went wide. “Next time?” he asked, hope naked in his voice.

“Maybe,” said James, voice teasing. “Let’s get through this time first, shall we?” Qrow nodded and dragged James in for another kiss. With Qrow like this – eager, pliant, and all but begging – it was easier for James to let go of his fears and keep going. Yes, those fears lingered in the back of his mind, but the further he went, the quieter they got, until James found himself looking forward to what came next almost as much as Qrow.

Almost. He didn’t think he’d _ever_ match Qrow in enthusiasm about anything.

Qrow wriggled beneath James, his cock rubbing against James’ thigh, and grinned up at him. “Well come on, let’s _go_.”

James chuckled, resting his forehead on Qrow’s shoulder. He nipped lightly at the skin and Qrow shivered, tangling his fingers in James’ hair and lightly tugging. James hummed in response and pulled back from Qrow just enough to turn his head and spot the lube. He snagged the little bottle and popped the cap on it, glancing back up at Qrow, who watched him with a bit lower lip and eager eyes.

Giving a quiet smile, James went to coat his fingers, only to pause when he realized he didn’t know which hand to use. Qrow hadn’t minded being jerked off with his right, but would he care about his fingers somewhere else?

“I swear I will die happy if you shove your right hand in my ass,” said Qrow, seemingly reading James’ thoughts.

James cocked an eyebrow at him, eyes twinkling and mouth twisting in mirth. “The whole hand?” he asked. “I didn’t realize you were into that.”

By the flush on Qrow’s face and the slow parting of his lips and widening of his eyes, neither had Qrow.

James was tempted to apologize, but then Qrow let out a low whine and pulled one hand from James’ hair to cover his eyes.

“Don’t put thoughts in my head if you aren’t gonna follow through, Jim,” murmured Qrow, muffled behind his hand.

Now, it was James’ turn to flush, and he ducked his head to hide the red that no doubt spread across his entire face. He had to admit, the thought had never occurred to him before, but now that Qrow had put it out there…

James shook his head. No. He wasn’t going to try something like _that_ with Qrow, especially not right now and _especially_ not without a lot of research and discussion beforehand.

James cleared his throat and coated his right fingers in lube, grateful that Qrow had thought to buy the water based kind. It was less likely to cause any problems with his prosthetics if some got in-between the joints.

With one last glance up at Qrow, who flashed him a smile and parted his legs, still looking hopeful as he craned his neck to watch what James was doing, James took a deep breath, steadied himself, and slid one metal, lube-coated finger, into Qrow.

Qrow groaned, head falling back into the pillows and hips wriggling down further onto James’ finger.

_“God_ , I’ve been wanting you to do that for a _week_ ,” said Qrow. He tugged at James’ hair with the hand still in it. “Come on, come on.”

“Someone’s impatient,” said James.

Qrow gave him a flat look, which fell short of the mark due to his flushed cheeks and blown wide pupils. “I just don’t want to waste time now that I’ve finally got you naked.”

James paused, looking up at Qrow with a furrowed brow. “Waste time?” he echoed. Qrow nodded and James cracked a smile. He leaned forward, sliding his finger out of Qrow, who whined, and kissed Qrow’s jaw, then worked his kisses up through the rest of his jaw before settling on his mouth.

Qrow hummed and kissed back eagerly, both hands now in James’ hair again.

“No such thing,” murmured James when he pulled back. “We’ve got all night.”

Qrow tugged him into another kiss, legs falling even further open, and tugged hard enough at James’ hair to hurt. Not enough to be a bother, more like a sting, but James took it as his cue to slide a finger back into Qrow’s ass.

Qrow pulled back from the kiss to gasp and arch into James’ touch. His eyes fluttered, cheeks flushing, and James cracked a crooked smile.

“You really are eager,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

Qrow chuckled and flashed a grin at James. “Easy to be, with you.”

James flushed and his mouth twisted into a softer smile, the flush tickling at his ears and the tip of his nose. Instead of responding, he shifted lower to suck at Qrow’s throat, peppering kisses across the sensitive skin near his collarbone.

Qrow’s fingers tangled in James’ hair and he panted into James’ ear. James shifted to slide a second finger alongside the first and kept nipping at Qrow’s neck, his left hand smoothing down Qrow’s side. Qrow clung to him, his fingers digging hard enough to hurt, but James paid it little mind, instead letting his gaze flick up to Qrow’s face whenever he pulled back for a moment.

Qrow’s eyes were closed, his head tilted back, face flushed, and his mouth was open in wet, harsh pants.

James crooked his fingers, brow furrowed as he wanted Qrow arch and whine. It was a sound James was growing accustomed to hearing. It was one he hoped he’d never get sick of. And one he hoped he’d get to hear a lot more of.

Humming, Qrow opened his eyes and squinted up at James, cheeks flushing darker. It took James a moment to realize he’d stopped moving his fingers.

Qrow pulled one hand from James’ hair and brushed James’ cheek with his fingertips. “Come on, Jim, keep going.” He cracked a crooked smile at James and James leaned in and kissed it off him, sliding in a third finger and wriggling them. Immediately, Qrow was groaning again, one hand still on James’ cheek and the other in his hair.

They stayed like that, slower and lazier than before, as James stretched Qrow and kissed him all at once. Qrow’s fingers carded James’ hair and slid down onto his shoulders. Then they slid lower, down his back, onto his ass, and groped him there. James gasped at the touch, hips jerking back into Qrow’s hands, and Qrow chuckled against his lips.

“Sensitive,” he teased, squeezing both cheeks.

James rolled his eyes and nipped at his nose, getting a squawk of protest from Qrow, who wrinkled his nose at James in a way James couldn’t help but think of as adorable.

He slid his fingers from Qrow, who pressed back toward the retreating digits with a quiet noise of protest, and reached for the condoms.

“Good?” asked James, hoping Qrow caught his meaning.

Qrow nodded and groped his ass again, grinning at him. “Hell yeah,” he said, voice a tad hoarser than it had been a moment ago. “Come on, get in me.” He wriggled his hips against James’ and a spike of hot need shot up through James’ groin and into his lower stomach. He groaned and rolled his hips into Qrow’s, nipping at his jaw.

“Hold still for a moment, will you?” asked James, pulling back.

Qrow rolled his eyes but settled against the sheets, pulling his hands from James’ ass to rest them behind his head. When James didn’t move, Qrow cocked and eyebrow and gestured toward the box of condoms with his chin and his eyes.

With a shake of his head, James pulled a condom and tore open the wrapper. It’d been a while since he’d needed one of these, but the memory never really went away. And, strange as it was, he felt a flush of heat run up his body as Qrow watched him roll it on.

There was no disgust in Qrow’s eyes, no hesitation, just eagerness and hope all wrapped into one. That made James flush for an entirely different reason. He uncapped the lube and managed a shaky smile Qrow.

As if sensing his hesitation, Qrow grabbed the bottle from James, both of his arms coming down from behind his head. He slicked his own fingers and, without a word, leaned in, kissed James, and wrapped his slick right hand around James’ cock.

James gasped into Qrow’s mouth, eyes squeezing shut and hips arching into the touch.

_Oh god._

It had been too long.

Heat flushed his body, prickling his spine and pooling in his groin and abdomen until it pulsated in time with the strokes of Qrow’s hand. He dropped his forehead to Qrow’s shoulder and buried his face in the crook of Qrow’s neck, hips twitching helplessly into Qrow’s touch.

“Fuck,” hissed James.

“That’s the idea,” said Qrow. He let go of James’ cock and it was James’ turn to whine in disappointment. Qrow only chuckled and stroked James’ hair with his dry hand. “Come on, Jim. Don’t tell me you’d rather I stroke you off than this?” There was a tease in his voice, but a question as well. James almost thought Qrow was asking if he’d rather back off.

But he was already wearing a condom he didn’t _technically_ need – metal didn’t carry STIs, after all – and he’d already gone to the trouble of stretching Qrow until he whined – not that that was hard. So, backing out now, even if it was an option, wasn’t what he wanted to do.

He wanted to make Qrow shout his name, make him squirm beneath James until James had to hold his hips with one hand to thrust into him properly. Oh, he wanted it.

And Qrow seemed to as well.

Qrow tugged loosely at his hair and grinned at James, eager and hopeful all at once. He wiggled his hips again and James couldn’t help the soft laugh that slipped from his lips. He ducked his head, pressed a soft kiss to Qrow’s lips, then drew up one of Qrow’s legs, bending it at the knee toward his hip.

“Good?” asked James. Qrow nodded eagerly, cheeks flushing and entire body arching into James’ fingers. James smiled and leaned forward, pressing a kiss into the inside of Qrow’s knee.

Then, taking a deep breath, James lined himself up and slid into Qrow.

_Oh._

James sucked in a sharp breath and shuddered as he pressed in, slow and steady. Oh, it had been far too long since he’d gotten to do this, but his nerves remembered, even if the parts were different. Qrow gasped beneath him, hips bucking to finish the slide, and sighed quietly, eyes fluttering.

“Shit,” breathed Qrow, quietly. He slid his hands onto James’ shoulders and dug in, nails clipping at his skin and rasping against the metal of his right. “That’s… _shit._ ” Qrow’s fingers dug even harder as James shifted his hips and changed the angle. “ _God_ , James.”

James flushed and ducked his head, biting the inside of his cheek to try and keep from making any embarrassing noises. It failed when he exhaled and it came out halfway between a moan and a sigh.

Qrow chuckled and tugged him forward, shifting one hand up to the back of his neck. “C’mere,” mumbled Qrow, voice quivering as he spoke. James leaned forward, letting Qrow lead him down, and caught Qrow’s lips in a kiss that quickly went from peck to something much more wet and steamy. Qrow groaned and tangled his fingers tightly in James’ hair, James shifting forward and sliding against Qrow, shifting inside him until both of them moaned into the kiss.

As they pulled back, James rested their foreheads together and panted, his breath puffing against Qrow’s face. Qrow laughed, his own breath puffing back – faintly smelling of jerky – and grinned at him.

“C’mon,” said Qrow, wiggling his hips. James cursed and pressed his forehead into Qrow’s shoulder as heat spiked up his spine and left his fingers tingling. “You good?”

“Been a while,” mumbled James against his throat.

“You jerked off yesterday,” said Qrow, poking his shoulder. James cracked a self-deprecating smile and let out a snort. “Oh. You mean…”

“It’s been a few years, yeah,” said James. “Gimme a sec.” Qrow patted his head, shifting to stroke his hair. He pressed a kiss to the crown of James’ head and James hummed, nuzzling Qrow’s throat.

“Take your time,” Qrow said, continuing to stroke his hair. The two laid there for a moment, and James took a breath, then another, until the sharp edges of his senses started to recede. It was still there, the tight heat that coiled low in his groin and settled over him, not quite suffocating but not quite friendly either. There was a memory to this, to sex on this side and on others, but _god_ it had been too long.

James shifted and Qrow’s legs shifted with him. He wrapped his legs around James, tight enough to hold but not tight enough to restrict, and Qrow rolled his hips up into James’ and whined.

“Good?” asked Qrow.

“Yeah,” said James. He leaned forward, bracing his hands on either side of Qrow, and pressed one last kiss to his lips. Then, taking a deep breath, he slid as far as he dared, held long enough for Qrow to squirm, and thrust back in.

And _oh_. He’d forgotten about this. About tightness and heat and the way his entire body shuddered with every thrust. He’d forgotten about the way a pair of legs could tighten around his body and hold him close, about the way fingers thread through his hair. About the noises people made when they were in the throes of pleasure and passion.

James groaned and planted one hand, picking up his pace from painfully slow to something more reasonable. Qrow dug his fingers into James’ hair and threw back his head, gasping. James groaned alongside Qrow’s moans and gasps, pressing into Qrow as he tried to keep his head.

His mind was flooded with pleasure, his fingers tingled, his spine was on fire and only half of it was from his groin. His breaths came hot and fast, shuddering their way out of him as he tried to find a rhythm that didn’t set his right side burning.

“Jim, hey,” said Qrow, hands sliding to cup his face as James grimaced. “You okay? Talk to me.”

James dropped his head to Qrow’s shoulder and sighed, arms quivering from the force of holding himself up. “I can’t do it.”

“Oh,” said Qrow. “You wanna pull out and just jerk each other off or something?” There was no disappointment in his voice, just concern as he stroked James’ cheek with his thumb.

James flushed. “What? No!” Qrow’s eyes went wide and his hand stopped. James grimaced. “I don’t… want to stop. I’m… sore.” He bit his lower lip and tried to find the words, looking away from Qrow. “My prosthetics,” he mumbled. “I can’t fuck you when they’re hurting like this.”

Qrow nodded, slow and uncertain, his brow furrowed and his lips pursed. “So, what do you want to do? What can you do?” he asked.

James closed his eyes, pleasure mixing with pain and leaving him wondering which one was going to win out. “You could ride?” The words came out a question. James grimaced. God, this was humiliating. He’d finally gotten what he wanted – Qrow, under him – and he couldn’t even enjoy it.

“Yeah,” said Qrow, carding his fingers through James’ hair. “Yeah, come on, flip us over.”

“You’re all right with that?” asked James, eyes blinking open as he turned his gaze to Qrow.

Qrow grinned at him, easy instead of cocky. “I am _absolutely_ all right with that.” He nudged James. “You want to be laying or sitting for this?” he asked.

“Sitting,” murmured James, leaning in to kiss Qrow. Qrow hummed into the contact and tangled his fingers in James’ hair, tugging him closer. After a moment, James gently rolled them over, letting Qrow wrap his legs a little tighter, and then they both shifted back so James was leaned against the pillows at the headboard and Qrow was in his lap.

Qrow leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to James’ lips, sliding his hands up to cup James’ face with both of them while he adjusted his legs and pulled them out from under James. James groaned quietly at the movement and held Qrow by his hips, drawing him in as close as they could. When they pulled back, James’ breath shuddering a bit, they rested their foreheads together and Qrow gave a quiet chuckle.

“Better?” he asked. James nodded. The pain that had spiralled up his right side – he probably should have taken his painkillers but that would have made this impossible – receded until it was only a dull ache in the background. Nothing that he couldn’t ignore for a while. He’d probably pay for it in the morning, regardless.

He didn’t really care.

“Yeah,” said James. He rolled hips, tentative, up into Qrow’s. Qrow groaned, eyes fluttering, and ground down on James. James pressed his lips together. “You, uh, ready?” he asked, wincing a bit at how hesitant he sounded.

Qrow nodded and kissed his nose. “Born that way,” he said. “You?”

“Yes,” said James. He squeezed Qrow’s hips. “Very much so.” Qrow grinned, nuzzling James’ jaw, and rolled his hips. James’ eyes fluttered as pinpricks of pleasure danced along his spine. He squeezed Qrow’s hip a little harder and thrust his hips upward into Qrow’s.

Hesitantly, shakily, they found a rhythm. Qrow’s hips and James’ snapping into one another and rolling until they both panted heavily against one another. James’ breathes were loud in his own ears, but not loud enough to cover the steady rhythm of his too-fast heart. He groaned as Qrow nipped at his jaw, memories forgotten and want taking over.

James pulled Qrow as close as he could, gripping his hips as they moved together. They stumbled, the slipped, they laughed it off and kept going, Qrow nuzzling and nipping at James’ jaw and chin while James shifted his hand to massage Qrow’s ass.

The air conditioner chattered on, a faint breeze against the sweltering heat of their sweaty, joined skin. And as they moved, James felt heat coil low in his stomach, pressing at his groin as he panted and gasped. It built, spreading through his legs until it tingled his toes, dancing up his spine until his entire body was tense. But they kept on, James with growing confidence and Qrow with growing eagerness. He moved in James’ lap, his cock sliding against James’ stomach from how close they were.

He probably should have reached out and stroked it. He probably should have done more than massage Qrow’s ass and thrust up into him. But he couldn’t get his bearings. Everything was hot and overwhelming and he couldn’t think straight, not with everything else going on.

So, he did what he originally wanted to do, pain be damned. He held fast to Qrow and rolled them back over, planting one hand on the sheets and fucking into Qrow as hard as he dared. Qrow _keened_ , high, loud noises spilling from his mouth and echoing into the room. His legs wrapped hard around James’ middle, his fingers gripped James’ shoulders until he knew the left would leave a mark.

And he felt nothing but heat and nothing but pleasure and nothing but _want_ as he pressed into Qrow over and over, pushing him hard enough to send him sliding against the pillows.

His body shuddered, mind stuttering as pinpricks turned to jolts and everything coiled tight in the base of his groin. He gripped the sheets, cursed softly, and leaned forward, head bowing against Qrow, as his orgasm washed over him.

Qrow whined below him and James found the strength, despite the pleasure humming through his body, to reach between them with his right and stroke Qrow to completion. Qrow groaned his name, panting into the air, and spilled over James’ hand and his own chest.

They stayed there, for a moment, before James all but collapsed against Qrow. Somehow, despite his trembling legs and swimming mind, he found the strength to pull himself off Qrow, pull the condom, and toss it into the trash, more than a tad grateful he didn’t have to worry about tying it.

There were other things to clean up, but James settled for wiping his hand off on the sheets and pulling Qrow to him.

“Mm,” hummed Qrow, nuzzling into him. “Worth the wait.”

James pressed a kiss to his hair. “You think?” he asked.

“Don’t you?” asked Qrow, cracking open one eye to peer up at James. James flushed and nodded.

“Yes, I do,” he said.

Qrow grinned at him. “Told you.” He pushed himself upright, wobbling a bit, and stumbled toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna clean up, then, food?” he asked.

James nodded, propping himself up on his elbows. “Food sounds wonderful.” He couldn’t keep the softness from his voice, or his expression, as he spoke. Qrow paused, one hand on the bathroom door, then turned, smiled at James, and padded back to him.

He leaned forward, fingers combing through James’ hair, and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” said James, just as soft. “Want me to order in? Probably some good pizza around here.”

“Yeah,” said Qrow. “Then, we’ll talk?”

James nodded. “Yeah,” he agreed. Neither one spoke above a whisper. After a moment, Qrow pressed another kiss to his lips, James hummed, then Qrow headed to the bathroom to clean off.

Once he was out of sight, James allowed himself to collapse back onto the bed, humming quietly as he combed his fingers through his hair. He was fuzzy, content, and more than a little pleased that Qrow had taken so well to everything.

He knew, in the back of his mind, that there was still stuff to talk about, still things to sort out, but that could come later. First, he needed to find pizza. Everything else was secondary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	17. The Morning After (Redux)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Communication is a two-way street.
> 
> Someone should tell them that.

James wasn’t sure the last time he’d woken up naked – in fact, it had probably been before the accident – which meant that, when he woke up that morning, naked, warm, and with a weight against him that more than a little resembled another person, he was confused, to put it lightly.

It took a few seconds, but everything came back to James. The night, the talk, the motion, the pleasure, and everything after and around it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept deeply enough to disorient himself that badly. He imagined it probably had something to do with last night’s… well, with last night.

Qrow hummed and nuzzled deeper into James, stirring slightly. James reached up and stroked his hair. It was an absent gesture, even as he smiled down at Qrow before turning his attention to the old clock on the end table.

Qrow stirred as James moved, then lifted his head and squinted at him. He didn’t speak for a few seconds, then, he said, “Huh. It wasn’t a dream.” There was a quiet wonder to his voice, despite the gruffness that came from just waking up. “Guess miracles do exist.”

With a quiet laugh, James shook his head. “Morning to you too,” he said, combing his fingers through Qrow’s hair.

Qrow grinned at him, lazy and half asleep. “And a damn good one at that.” He wriggled against James, reminding James that Qrow was on his _right_ , and scooted closer. James swallowed at the knowledge that Qrow was pressed against his prosthetics, something he hadn’t noticed when he’d first woken up for whatever reason. But Qrow didn’t seem bothered by it, and so James tried not to be bothered by it either. Even if he was acutely aware of every place Qrow was pressed against him, and how Qrow had one leg thrown over one of his, his thigh near James’ groin.

“Why do you say that?” asked James. He shifted, wondering if he could get out from under Qrow, and caught the flash of confusion on Qrow’s face.

“Hey, talk to me,” said Qrow. He reached up and brushed James’ hair from his forehead. “C’mon, Jim, we slept together, you still think I’m gonna run?”

James swallowed against the lump in his throat. “Forgive me if one night doesn’t undo a decade of insecurity and fear of intimacy.”

Qrow opened his mouth, closed it, then sighed, resting his cheek on James’ chest and looking away from him. “Yeah,” he said, quietly. “That makes sense.” He traced his fingers across James’ chest – metal to scar to skin and back again. James wasn’t sure how he felt about those fingers, those touches. If nothing else, they were something to focus on.

“We should talk,” said James. “Last night…”

“Please don’t call it a mistake,” said Qrow. “Because I swear you are the _king_ of mixed signals.” His voice was a rumble against James’ chest, the movement of Qrow’s mouth shifting just above James’ right side, sending warm breath skittering across the flexible metal and mesh there.

James lifted his right hand and rested it on Qrow’s back, catching the slight shiver that went through Qrow as he did.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” said James. The words were heavy and clumsy – true, but with a lot of complexities behind them. “I…” He sighed, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. He laid his other hand across his face and left it there for a minute, grounding himself in the gesture.

God, how did he begin to explain what was going through his head to Qrow when he scarcely understood it himself?

“Hey, talk to me,” said Qrow. He rested his hand over James’ and gently pulled it from his face. “I can listen, you know. And I will.” James opened his eyes and looked down at Qrow, who smiled encouragingly at him.

James shifted back on the bed, taking Qrow with him, until he was leaned against the headboard, mostly sitting up. Qrow shifted back, leaned partially against him but far enough back that he could look at James, brow furrowed.

“I don’t know, Qrow. I can’t sort it out,” said James, leaning his head against the wall and staring at the ceiling.

Qrow frowned at him, nudging him so that James looked at him properly instead of out of the corner of his eye. “You don’t have to know everything, Jim. Just tell me what you’re thinking.” He hesitated, looking away from James, a soft look coming over his face. “I… do you want me to leave?” He sounded so vulnerable, so scared, that James felt his heart pang. He reached up and cupped Qrow’s face with his right hand, running his thumb over Qrow’s cheekbone.

“No,” said James, the words a surprise but honest all the same. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“You know, we were supposed to talk last night,” said Qrow, running his fingers across James’ chest absently. It was true, they were supposed to. They’d been supposed to do a lot of things the night before, but after they’d eaten pizza, talking about pizza toppings and not much else – Qrow called him a heathen for liking pineapples on pizza, James had only rolled his eyes and told Qrow to eat his ‘naked pizza’ – they’d ended up passing out together.

Not that James was complaining about the night. Even disregarding the sex, he’d had a great night with Qrow. And, if he _included_ the sex, well…

“Yes, we were,” said James, quietly. He rested his cheek on Qrow’s head without really thinking about it. His mind ran over the night before half a dozen times in quick succession. But no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t explain the fear that clung to him. Yes, a decade of fear tended to linger, but what was he expecting, for Qrow to turn around and leave now that they’d had sex? For James to go to Sacramento alone?

For Qrow to tell him that, actually, he wasn’t all right with the metallic appendage James called a dick, and that he was some kind of monster, or half a man, or something of the sort?

James didn’t know. And he didn’t know why those doubts clung to him, even now, but they did. Without pleasure clouding his senses, or an afterglow made of bad jokes and good pizza, it seemed all those doubts that had existed before they’d had sex had returned.

“So, let’s talk,” said Qrow. James gave him a look consisting of raised eyebrows and doubtful eyes. Qrow sighed. “Look, we had sex – pretty fantastic sex, at that – and now we have to _talk about it._ ” Qrow stabbed a finger at his chest. “I’m not letting you run again.”

“And if I need to run to sort out my head?” asked James. He wasn’t sure if he did, but he wanted to ask, just to see. Just to know.

Qrow faltered, blinked, then sighed. “Then I guess I take it back and let you run, even if I don’t want to.” He scowled, obviously frustrated with the question, but didn’t move from where he was half-leaned against James. “Not going to force you into anything,” he mumbled.

“Thank you,” said James, caught off-guard by the words. He hadn’t expected Qrow to say them, but it only further solidified Qrow’s change in attitude last night. That moment still stuck out to James, the moments Qrow had seen his hesitation, heard his words, and given him the chance to back off. That ability, more than anything, was what had let him press on last night. That, and Qrow reacting favourably to seeing him naked.

So why was he still scared?

“I don’t know where to start,” said James, reaching up to comb his fingers through his no doubt unruly hair.

“All right, start small then,” said Qrow. “Do you regret last night?”

James shook his head. “No.” He may have been scared, but he didn’t regret it. He’d enjoyed himself, and Qrow had as well. “You _did_ say the next time we did anything, it would be mutual. I think that’s about as mutual as it gets.”

Qrow chuckled, snuggling in close to James, his cheek on James’ shoulder. “True enough,” he said. He rested his hand on James’ chest, mostly on the flesh side. “You know if you’re up for going again?”

James’ eyebrows shot up. “Right now?” he asked, voice cracking slightly.

“No!” said Qrow, jerking back from James. His eyes were wide and so were James’, both of them staring at each other in shock. “No, I meant, in general. Uh…” Qrow took a breath and sighed. “I was more wondering if all this,” he gestured to James, “is because you’re worried you feel like you have to go for round two.”

The thought had occurred to James, though only in the back of his mind. He was less worried about moving forward and more worried about dealing with what had happened. He didn’t know how Qrow could be so calm, not with where he was laying and not after the stuttering start they’d had to last night.

“Whatever you need, I’m here for you, Jim,” said Qrow, shifting so that he could cup James’ face with one hand and turn it toward him. “Okay? Don’t…” Qrow sighed and rested his cheek on James’ shoulder, releasing James’ face. “Don’t shut me out.”

James caught Qrow’s hand as he pulled it away from his face and, hesitantly, laced their fingers together. “I won’t,” he whispered. “I just don’t know what’s going on in my head, Qrow.”

James felt Qrow smiled, small but there, against his shoulder. “Okay,” said Qrow. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah,” said James. “We will.” Even if he wasn’t sure how, he could agree to that much. And the use of ‘we’ was helping, even if it scared James. Maybe, if he wasn’t alone with his head after this, it wouldn’t be so bad.

Qrow cleared his throat. “So, uh, breakfast?” he asked.

“Breakfast,” agreed James. “You pick.”

“I know a grilled cheese restaurant in the next town. As long as the car’s working, I vote there,” said Qrow, getting up and stretching.

James gave him a strange look. “A grilled cheese restaurant? For _breakfast_?”

Qrow looked back at him and winked. “Come on, James, live a little.” With that, he disappeared into the bathroom, leaving the remnants of his warmth against James. James sat up and rested a hand on his chest where Qrow had been only moments ago.

One step at a time, he told himself. Breakfast, car ride, then everything else. So long as he took it one step at a time, they’d be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	18. Cool to the Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little late, sorry about that.

James and Qrow were back on the road before ten that morning, and then they were heading for the Colorado border and toward Utah. In a few hours, they’d cross the border into Utah, then they would be less than two days from home if they drove the entire day.

James wasn’t entirely certain how to feel about that. On the one hand, he was excited to see Penny, to get home, and to enjoy his house for the summer with only at home work. On the other hand, he also knew that that meant either ending or defining whatever was going on with Qrow, and god knew he hadn’t a clue where to even begin.

As it stood, Qrow was driving, James was playing with the radio, though it only played static no matter how many channels he tried. They’d gotten something Spanish earlier, but that had lasted only a minute or two before they lost it as well.

Both of them pretended, or at least James suspected they both were pretending, that James wasn’t using the radio fiddling to cover his own nervousness about their situation. He wasn’t sure what to say, or what to do, in the face of everything that had happened. He knew that Qrow wanted to help, but he wasn’t sure how he could help.

His mind was blank, but it still ran at a million miles an hour: telling him he should be thinking of things even if he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be thinking about.

The sex? Maybe.

Qrow? Probably.

How own issues and feelings? Most definitely, but that wasn’t happening, not now, not ever. He didn’t want to try and deal with all of the baggage that came from having sex. No, instead, he wanted to enjoy the fact that he’d had good sex, and that Qrow was fine with everything and very supportive, and maybe think about taking Qrow up on his comment about having a little dick in him.

Even if that prospect scared him even more than the night before. Part of him wanted it, a large, not insignificant amount of him, wanted it. He just had to figure out what he was feeling and thinking first, so that he could properly talk to Qrow about it.

At the moment, with the state of mind James was in, he wasn’t quire sure what to do.

Qrow drummed his fingers on the wheel as they drove, ever approaching the Utah border. As they drove, the trees faded away to red rocks, and the world grew hotter and hotter still. It was cooler than yesterday, sitting at an even hundred degrees, but that was still unbearably hot. So they kept the windows up and the air conditioning on.

James was glad they’d managed to fix the car – far overdue oil change, no anti-freeze, and overheating. Nothing that had been too damaging to the car, thankfully.

“So,” said Qrow, after about two hours of semi-awkward silence had passed. “How about those uh, rocks?” Out of the corner of James’ eye, he saw Qrow wince, and he could sympathise. Rocks were hardly the most interesting thing in the world.

“We’re about twenty minutes from the border, aren’t we?” asked James, not bothering to answer the first question. He glanced at the GPS, which told him the same thing, and saw Qrow do the same. Qrow didn’t answer. James frowned.

The thoughts in his head were starting to line up, slow but steady, in the face of his own growing frustration.

“Did you like last night?” asked James. Qrow started, eyes growing wide as he stared at James, almost as though he’d grown a second head. James didn’t blame him. It wasn’t as though James had ever been the one to start these conversations before.

“Y-yeah,” said Qrow, nodding. He turned his gaze back to the road. Not that he really needed to. The roads were clear and straight, the weather was nice, and the car was balanced well enough that it wouldn’t turn if you let go of the wheel. Not for a while, at least. “Did you?”

James mulled over the question for a moment, then nodded. “I did. And…” James trailed off and frowned. Thoughts kept lining up in his head. Fear giving way to ‘what the hell’ and the want to what he wanted for once in his damn life. “I think I’d like to do it again.”

Qrow jumped, the car swerved a bit, and Qrow cursed. He pulled over to the side of the road, behind a small outcropping of rocks that were taller than the car, and looked to James.

“Give a guy a warning, would you?” he asked, voice hoarse. He shook his head, his mouth twisting, half smile and half grimace. Then, he rubbed his hand over his mouth and shook his head again. “Fuck, James.”

James bit his cheek and resisted the urge to make a bad joke. It wasn’t the time, it wasn’t in character, and, as much as he would have loved to see Qrow’s reaction, he really needed to keep things consistent.

“So, you’re starting to sort things out?” asked Qrow, looking hopeful. Then, he cleared his throat. “Not to pressure you, or anything.”

James reached over the space between the seats and rested his hand on Qrow’s shoulder. “You’re not,” he said. “And… yes, I think I am.” Even if he wasn’t completely conscious of those thoughts, they were starting to sort themselves out. He was scared, yes, even though he had no reason to be, but he wasn’t going to let that rule him.

They had two and a half days left together. Whether they went their separate ways or not, after that, was all up to chance. James didn’t know if Qrow would stay. Hell, he didn’t even _know_ if he wanted Qrow to stay, all he knew was that he wanted this, whatever ‘this’ was, right here, right now.

“Come here,” said James, beckoning Qrow with his fingers. Qrow tipped his head, frowning, and James pulled back his hand and nodded. “Come here,” he said, again.

Qrow climbed over the centre console and dropped into James’ lap, his knees on either side of the seat. He bent down, the top of his head brushing the ceiling of the car, and cupped James’ face in both hands, kissing him soundly. James groaned and took Qrow’s hips in both hands, hauling them as close together as they could.

The car wasn’t big enough for anything fancy, not for what Qrow had suggested, a day prior, but it was big enough for this.

Qrow rolled his hips into James’ and James cursed softly against Qrow’s lips, pulling back to suck in a sharp breath from between his teeth.

Qrow grinned down at James, their foreheads pressed together, and let out a soft chuckle. “You good?” asked Qrow, barely above a murmur.

“ _God_ , yes,” breathed James, dragging Qrow back in for another kiss. Qrow let out something like a chuckle, but it was lost between them, and they kept going. James was faintly aware that if anyone saw their car, they could feasibly pull up and see what was going on, but he didn’t care. They were hidden behind a rock on a quiet road, and he had a wriggling man in his lap who was very _obviously_ interested in where this was headed.

James cursed quietly and buried his face in the crook of Qrow’s neck when Qrow snapped his hips into James’ and heat coursed through James’ veins. It shouldn’t have been this easy to turn him on, yet here he was, hot and hard in the passenger’s seat of a company car with Qrow in his lap in about the same state.

Qrow dragged him in for another kiss and shifted back, pulling their chests away from one another. James didn’t pay it any mind, his hands moving up to cup Qrow’s face to get a better angle and slide his tongue into Qrow’s mouth. Then, Qrow’s fingers brushed James’ shirt and the sound of a zipper being undone hit James’ ears.

He pulled back far enough to see Qrow undoing his pants and shoving down the front of them, pulling his already hard cock out from his underwear.

Qrow caught up staring and leaned back in to James, chuckling against his lips before pressing his to James’ again. James rolled with it, pulling his right hand from Qrow’s face and pulling back from their kiss. Qrow frowned, then groaned quietly when James tugged off his right glove with his teeth.

James suppressed a chuckle at that. He’d thought that Qrow might have that reaction. Part of why he’d done it with his teeth.

Glove off, James put his hand back on Qrow’s face and reached down with his left one to undo his own pants. He lifted his hips to shove his pants down far enough to get at his boxers, then shoved them down far enough to get his own cock out. Qrow groaned and got his hand around both of them, and James hissed at the contact of warm fingers on cool metal.

He pressed his forehead to Qrow’s and scrunched his eyes shut, breathing through his nose as Qrow stroked their cocks together. Qrow rolled his hips with the motion, sending sparks of heat and pleasure shooting through James’ groin and into his stomach, where it pooled low, just behind where his balls should have been. It left him squirming in his seat, bucking his hips into Qrow’s and gripping Qrow’s face with one hand and his hip with the other.

“I got you,” murmured Qrow. “I got you.” He swiped his thumb over the head and James about died, forehead dropping down to Qrow’s shoulder. He reached down with his right hand and wrapped it around Qrow’s, careful to avoid his own cock, to get some extra pressure.

Qrow chuckled and nuzzled James’ hair, nipping at one of his ears lightly. James just grunted and turned his head, pressing open-mouthed kisses to Qrow’s neck while they stroked each other.

Neither one made much noise, their grunts and soft noises mixing with the erratic rhythm of their breathing. James cursed quietly when Qrow’s nails nicked him, pain mixing with the pleasure and the heat and pressure mixing together, driving him closer and closer.

Qrow grabbed James’ chin with his free hand and took his head off Qrow’s shoulder, pulling their faces together so Qrow could kiss him again. And again. And again. Mouths moving together as their hands did the same, heat and wet combining until James’s head spun and he gasped softly, orgasm washing over him and slipping through his fingertips.

He groaned against Qrow’s mouth as pleasure curled into his veins, then pulled harder at Qrow’s cock until the man cursed against his mouth and spilled between them, coating their hands and James’ softening cock.

The two rested their foreheads together, panting quietly. Their cheeks were flushed, their pupils blown wide, and their mouths red from too-hard kisses in the midst of their pleasure.

James met Qrow’s eyes and Qrow let out a soft laugh, leaning in to peck James on the lips.

“You know, not what I was expecting today, but hey, I’ll take it,” said Qrow. He cracked a smile at James and nudged James’ forehead with his own. “You okay?”

James nodded, mind sluggish and body pleasantly heavy. He glanced to the side and let out a soft snort, noticing how fogged up the windows were. “Well, it’s obvious what _we’ve_ been up to,” he said, drily.

“Look on the bright side, means no one could even try and see in,” said Qrow. He lifted his hand from their laps and grimaced, wiggling his white coated fingers. “You have tissues in this thing?”

“Glove compartment,” said James. Qrow wriggled around, prompting an oversensitive slide across James’ dick and a quiet groan from James, and managed to get the travel pack of tissues out from the compartment. He pulled a few out with his clean hand and wiped off his fingers, then set to work on cleaning up the mess on James and Qrow.

Some had managed to hit their shirts, and Qrow winced slightly. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said.

James grabbed a tissue of his own and wiped off his silver fingers, careful to check between the joints. He didn’t want to let it dry, that would be a new kind of hell to clean up if he did. “Don’t worry about it,” said James. “We have other clothes. Get as much as you can, and we’ll get changed once we stop for the night.” He paused. “And you can change shirts on the road, so that you can go check in for us.”

Qrow laughed and swiped at the mess on their groins, cleaning them up as best as he could despite the oversensitivity. He got most of it, leaving only a little wet mark on both of their shirts. Then, tossing the tissues into the little garbage bag James kept in the car, he leaned in and kissed James again.

James hummed, the kiss a pleasant surprise, and wrapped his arms around Qrow’s waist again, pulling them closer together. They both made quiet noises when their groins pressed together again, and Qrow pulled back to do up his pants. James took a moment to do the same, then pulled Qrow back in.

They stayed like that a while longer, trading lazy kisses and soft touches as the fog faded from the windows.

James wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, only that, at some point, there was a sharp rap on the window and they both jumped, Qrow’s head banging on the ceiling.

In unison, they turned to look out the passenger’s window, where a police officer stood, looking rather amused. James groaned quietly and Qrow hit the button to roll down the window.

“Afternoon, officer,” said Qrow, sounding a little hoarse but otherwise unbothered by their current position. James, meanwhile, was debating if he could get into the driver’s seat fast enough to speed away before the officer said anything.

The officer chuckled and shook her head. “Are you gentlemen all right?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

Qrow nodded. “Fine, just uh, taking a break from driving.”

The officer looked from the used tissues sticking out of the bag, to the drying damp spots on their shirts, to the generally dishevelled look of the two, and hummed. “I’m sure,” she said, drily. Her gaze went to James’ right hand and James hid it on Qrow’s other side as best he could. “Well, you should move on, then. Wouldn’t want to stall out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Qrow. He climbed off James and slid back into the driver’s seat, looking embarrassed.

“Have a good day, boys,” said the officer.

“You too,” said Qrow and James. She waved and walked off, then her car drove off as well, a moment later.

Once she was out of sight, James groaned and buried his face in his hands. He could not believe what had just happened. Not only had he just, for some god forsaken reason, had sex in his car with Qrow, but he’d also been caught in the afterglow by a police officer. Even as a teenager, James hadn’t done this sort of thing. So why had he started with Qrow?

“Are you okay?” asked Qrow.

James groaned again, feeling his face heat. “Just drive,” he mumbled. The car started moving, and James jumped a bit when a hand fell across his knee. He looked up to see Qrow smile at him and James found himself smiling back.

“Have I ever told you about the pizza roll war of ‘06?” asked Qrow.

James stared. “ _What_?” he asked, unable to keep the laugh from his voice.

Qrow grinned. “Oh, let me tell you about the pizza roll war of ‘06,” he said. He started telling the story as he drove, painting Raven and Taiyang as evil doers and himself and Summer, then pregnant, trying to save the world from the evil pizza roll thieves. All the while, James found himself laughing, and his troubles were forgotten as they kept driving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	19. Utah

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my last backlogged chapter for this fic. I'm having a hard time with it, so I don't know if I'll keep the weekly updates or have to switch over to biweekly updates. I apologize to those of you who enjoy the fic. I do love it, but I'm having a really hard time with the next chapter and don't know how to fix it. I'll keep regular updates on my progress with this fic on my Tumblr, anipendragon.
> 
> Cheers, everyone! Hoping to finish this fic soon!

Utah was, without the doubt, the most boring state James had ever driven in. When he and Qrow passed into the state, James had almost physically _felt_ the shift in the air and in the environment. The two drove for hours, swapping stories of ridiculous things from their youth. Qrow rambled from the pizza roll war to the cinnamon bun massacre of ’08, then into birthday parties with his nieces. James threw in his own stories about himself, Glynda, and Ozpin, as well as a few about Penny that he was comfortable sharing.

“Wait, wait,” said Qrow, at one point in their drive. “’Before she picked the name Penny’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

James winced, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn’t meant to say that. “Surely, your nieces have mentioned it?” he asked, hopeful that he wouldn’t have to explain it.

Qrow blinked a few times. “Your daughter is trans,” he said, a statement rather than a question. James nodded and Qrow went ‘huh’. “That’s pretty cool, Jim. You’re a pretty great dad, by the sounds of things.”

James smiled at Qrow. “I try,” he said, softly. He shouldn’t have said that. He knew he shouldn’t have, and he knew he’d have to talk to Penny about that later.

He glanced to the sky, which was growing darker by the minute. “We should probably find a place to stay.” He checked the GPS, which told him, quite cheerfully, that there was a motel a few miles away.

“Hey, all right, looks like luck is on our side today,” said Qrow, grinning at James.

James cocked an eyebrow at him, shifting in discomfort. His shirt had dried slightly crusty and he’d been wanting to change for hours now, but never had a good place to do so.

“Is this before or after the police officer found us making out in my car?” asked James.

“Before,” said Qrow. James gave Qrow a flat look and Qrow continued with, “She showed up _after_ we finished and cleaned up, didn’t she?”

As much as James hated to admit it, Qrow had a point there.

James sighed and rubbed his face with his left hand, trying to clear the tension headache that had formed up behind his eyes. Embarrassment trickled down his spine like a living thing and pooled in his stomach, churning it with the motion of the car. He closed his eyes, saw flashes of Qrow in his lap, squirming and aroused, and immediately opened them again.

He didn’t need to think about this right now. He really, really didn’t.

“So, we’re almost to the motel. You want to grab anything first?” asked Qrow.

“Change first, then let’s go find somewhere to eat,” said James. He leaned back a bit in his seat and stretched, grimacing. When he opened his eyes, he saw Qrow staring at him, and pretended he didn’t feel his face flush at the quiet longing in Qrow’s expression, nor at the low thrum of heat that spread through his body at the look.

God, what was Qrow doing to him? He’d never been this reckless or lustful, not even before the accident.

As Qrow turned the last corner before they entered the small town for the motel, James felt himself go rigid as the telltale horn of a train ripped through the car and through his body.

He sucked in a breath, his mind going blank as he gripped the edges of the seat and squeezed his eyes shut. The horn grew louder and James knew they were in front of the tracks – he hadn’t seen them before.

“James?” Qrow’s hand fell onto his left hand and James turned it over and gripped it tightly, letting out a shaky breath. He forced himself to open his eyes and watched as, a hundred feet ahead of their stationary car, the train passed by. Behind them, a car honked and went around, but Qrow didn’t move forward. He gripped James’ hand almost as tightly as James gripped his, and they watched as the train went by.

After a long two minutes, it was gone, its whistle and other noises fading with it, and James let himself relax.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that’s where your right side comes from,” murmured Qrow. James swallowed hard and gave a shaky nod.

“Yes, sorry,” said James. He didn’t move to release Qrow’s hand, but loosened his grip enough so that he wasn’t worried about cutting off his circulation. “Usually, I can handle them.”

Qrow tilted his head as he looked at James. “No shame,” he said. He started forward again, accelerating slowly, and James shifted so that his hand was atop Qrow’s, which was atop the gear shift. “That why you don’t ride ‘em home, either?” he asked.

James nodded and looked to the right as they passed over the track, a silent prayer in his head that they didn’t get stuck. When they passed over it, he relaxed a bit more, content to put the train, and the track, behind them.

“Precisely,” said James. “They’re also grossly uncomfortable.”

“More than eight hours a day in a car?” asked Qrow, sounding amused.

James gave him a soft smile. “At least in the car I have good company,” he replied.

Qrow broke into a smile of his own and kept driving, turning them into the parking lot of the motel. “I’ll be right back,” he said, a ‘thank you’ hidden in the tone of his voice, and James leaned back and waited for Qrow to return with a key.

He pulled out his phone while Qrow was gone and spotted a few texts from Ozpin. The first let him know that Penny had gone to the Xiao Long-Rose-Branwen household for the night for a sleepover, the second let him know that Ozpin was at James’ house, ensuring that everything was clean, and the third was an all caps text yelling about how James had left yogurt in the fridge before he’d left and _James you made a mistake oh god it smells so bad._

A laugh slipped from James before he could stop himself and he shook his head, tapping out a quick reply to Ozpin that was mostly teasing and partially concerned. He hoped the smell wasn’t too bad – Ozpin was known for their exaggerations and dramatic personality, after all.

Qrow reappeared on the side of the car and waved a set of keys at James. James tucked his phone back into his pocket, replaced his glove, and grabbed his bag from the back. He followed Qrow, who had grabbed his own bag, while holding his own strategically in front of the dried, discoloured spot on his shirt.

The room was in part of the ‘U’ shape of the motel, near one of the inner corners, and, inside, it had a king-sized bed. Qrow shrugged when James saw it, looking a tad embarrassed.

“I can switch it, if you want,” mumbled Qrow. Two days ago, or even one, James would have asked Qrow to switch it. But considering they’d had sex, not once, but _twice_ in the past twenty-four hours, he didn’t think it would be an issue.

“It’s fine, Qrow. Thank you,” said James. He set down his bag and stripped out of his shirt, tossing it onto the bed as well. “I’m going to see if this shower works.”

He heard a quiet noise from Qrow, part arousal and part agreement, and his ears heated again. Clearing his throat, James closed the door, though he didn’t lock it, and started on a shower. It did work, thankfully, and he didn’t linger, wanting only to wash and cool off before returning.

Wearing new clothes, James stepped back out into the motel room and Qrow looked up from where he was sprawled on the bed, texting someone.

“Hey,” said Qrow. “Dinner?” he asked.

James sat down on the bed and flopped back next to Qrow, hair and hands still damp. “I’d rather just order in,” said James. He rubbed a hand over his face and back through his hair, eyes closed. A tired sort of sluggishness had clung to his bones since the train tracks and now, resting in a pleasantly cool room – the air conditioner chugging in the window – James found he didn’t want to get up again.

“Sure,” said Qrow. He shifted. “Chinese okay?”

James nodded. “Sounds good.” He only half listened as Qrow made the order, rolling his eyes in good nature when Qrow ordered extra fried rice and extra fortune cookies. Not that he was complaining, of course, he loved fried rice as much as the next person.

Qrow hung up and settled next to James, resting his cheek on James’ shoulder. “Made the order. Got lots of rice.”

“I heard,” said James, sounding amused. “You know, I’m actually part Chinese.”

Qrow rolled over onto his stomach, brushing James’ left side with his own. James turned his head and opened his eyes to see Qrow resting his tilted head on his folded arms to look at James.

“Really?” asked Qrow. “Huh. Never would have guessed.” He paused, frowned, then added, “Then again, Tai’s Chinese and he’s _blond_ , so I guess I shouldn’t judge, yeah?”

James raised an eyebrow. “That’s his natural hair colour?”

“Yup,” said Qrow, chuckling.

“Do I want to know how you know that?” asked James.

Qrow shook his head. “Probably not.” He watched James curiously, and James couldn’t place why. He was tempted to ask, but he wasn’t sure how awkward that would be. Probably very, based on past experience with Qrow. James figured they’d probably stay in silence until the food arrived, but Qrow surprised him when he said, “You surprised me, earlier.”

Blinking, James looked at Qrow closely and raised an eyebrow. “Why is that?”

Qrow gave James a look that James had only seen on Raven beforehand. A flat look of ‘you’ve _got_ to be kidding me’ that was usually reserved for when James fueled Taiyang’s terrible puns.

“We had sex in your car,” said Qrow. He lifted one arm and poked James in the shoulder with a bony finger. “I wasn’t expecting you to ever want to touch me again, let alone have _sex_ in your _car_ on the _highway._ ” Qrow shook his head and let out a quiet chuckle. “You just surprised me.” He shrugged.

Rubbing a hand over his face, James nodded. He couldn’t really argue there. “You weren’t complaining at the time,” he mumbled.

“And I’m not complaining now,” said Qrow. “Just a little confused, especially with how you were this morning.” Qrow furrowed his brow. “Thought I was your first in a long time, didn’t really expect anything like that.”

“You are,” said James. Qrow blinked. “My first, I mean. Since…” James lifted his gloved right hand and pulled off the glove with his left. He wiggled his metal fingers. “Since this.”

Letting out a low whistle, Qrow said, “Really?” James nodded. “You’ve never been tempted?”

“Tempted, yes, but I’ve never acted on it,” replied James. When Qrow kept watching him, hopeful and curious, James sighed and figured he’d explain at least part of it. The story was embarrassing, yes, but not shameful. “There were two. A co-worker of mine, Li, and a local coffee shop owner, Lead.” He winced a bit, feeling his ears heat. “Both men are married, to women, I might add.”

“You know, bisexuality is a thing,” said Qrow.

James snorted. “I am aware, Qrow. I’m friends with Taiyang and with Glynda, aren’t I?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Huh,” said Qrow. He rolled onto his side and propped his head in one hand. “Surprised you didn’t bring up Raven.”

James shook his head. “As long as I’ve known your sister, she’s never been fond of labels.”

“Yeah,” said Qrow. He shifted closer to James and James swallowed. His heart picked up. “We’ve always had that in common.”

With that, Qrow leaned in the rest of the way and kissed James. James let out a surprised noise, then caught Qrow by the hips and pulled him the rest of the way on top of him. Qrow hummed and nuzzled in close, tangling their legs together and winding his fingers in James’ hair.

They traded lazy kisses, just like they had in the car, but this time there was no tapping on a window to disturb them. Instead, they were free to kiss and nip at one another, to let their hands explore down each other’s chests and backs, and to make the quiet noises they wanted to make without worry.

James found his hands drifting to Qrow’s ass and Qrow groaned, rolling their hips together. Arousal lingered in the back of James’ mind, but it wasn’t at the forefront. He’d had his share of pleasure in the last twenty-four hours. He was satiated. Qrow, it seemed, still had another wind in him, if the hard press against James’ thigh was anything to go by.

Of course, it all came to an end when there was a knock at the door. Qrow groaned and dropped his head to James’ shoulder, then let out a quiet whine when James groped his ass again.

Wriggling out of James’ grip, Qrow grabbed his wallet and stumbled to the door, his arousal obvious in his jeans. He opened the door far enough to trade bills for bags, then shut it and locked it.

“I’d say we could save the food for later, but we don’t have a microwave in here,” said Qrow. He sounded a tad frustrated, and James hid a smile.

“I never did finish telling you that story,” said James. Qrow dropped down onto the bed as James sat up. As Qrow dished out little boxes, James continued. “Li was always out of the question – the man is probably the straightest person I’ve ever met, bar Schnee. Though he’s much more open-minded.” Qrow nodded and handed him a pair of chopsticks, which James separated on his own. “Lead, on the other hand…”

Qrow raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

“His wife was _more_ than willing to let us explore what she called ‘unresolved sexual tension’. The whole family and I are friends – their son, Flynt, is a friend of Penny’s.” James shook his head, cheeks burning at the memory.

“Why didn’t you?” asked Qrow.

James sighed and opened a box of egg rolls. “The same reason I didn’t let you see me naked,” he replied.

Qrow paused, then nodded. “Yeah, all right.” He nudged James with his shoulder. “Kind of honoured I got to be your first, after it all, not gonna lie.”

James smiled at Qrow, his ears red. “Me too,” he said, voice soft. Qrow flushed and looked down at his food, but he was smiling.

The two ate their Chinese, swapping stories about friends and arguing over the correct way to eat a fortune cookie.

Tomorrow, maybe they’d talk more about serious things, but for tonight, James was just happy to spend time with Qrow. After all, they only had a short while left with each other.

Best not to bog it down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	20. Phone Calls in the Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's (what's) back, back again?
> 
> Let's start the last few chapters, shall we?

In the morning, James slipped out from under Qrow and headed outside to call Penny, wanting to check in on her before she headed back to Ozpin and Glynda's. He’d slept in, almost until ten, but he wasn’t terribly worried. After all, they only had one more night on the road.

James swallowed hard and stared at his dark phone screen at the thought. In the morning light, it glinted, showcasing his reflection.

One more night sleeping in motel beds, then he’d be back in Sacramento. James had already planned the schedule. They’d be driving until late tonight, but that meant tomorrow’s drive would only take a few hours. Tonight, they slept in Nevada, tomorrow, they'd cross over into California and head home - to separate homes.

He’d wanted to be home since this trip had began, so why did the thought of this whole thing being over in less than thirty hours turn his stomach so much?

Maybe he just needed to talk to Penny. That was probably it.

James tapped the Xiao Long-Branwen-Rose household phone number – he couldn’t believe they still _owned_ a home phone, but Summer insisted, as far as he could tell – and leaned against the outside wall of the motel, listening to the ring. The sun was on the other side of the motel, casting deep shadows on this side.

The other end of the line picked up and the first thing James heard was, “What’s this I hear about you fucking my least favourite brother?” _Taiyang._

James grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please tell me none of our kids heard that.”

“Our kids?” asked Taiyang, a tease in his voice. “I didn’t know you felt that way about me, Jim.” James could practically _hear_ Taiyang batting his eyelashes. “You know, I’d have to talk to my wives, but I’m sure we could find an arrangement, I’m always open to expanding my horizons, and _spreading_ them too.”

“Stick to the toys, Tai, I’m not interested,” said James. He felt his neck and cheeks heat at the words. God, he couldn’t believe he was having this conversation. “Now, how did you hear about this?”

“A little birdie told me,” said Taiyang.

James snorted. “Which one?” he asked, dryly.

“Yes,” said Taiyang. He chuckled and the phone shifted on the other end, alerting James that Tai had shaken his head. “Raven first, then Qrow. He called me the other day going on and on about your mouth.” There was a touch of amusement in Tai’s voice, but it quickly gave way to genuine interest. “I am curious though, you swore off dating. I know it has something to do with… well, with everything.” James grimaced. Tai only knew part of it, of course, but it still gave him pause. “Why is my baby brother the exception?”

James took a breath and attempted to collect his thoughts. “First, don’t call him that, because he’s hinted around that he’s _slept_ with you, once or twice.”

“Well, he’s not wrong,” said Taiyang, a grin in his voice. “But sure, for you, I won’t.”

“Thank you,” said James, with a slight sigh. “And…” He hesitated and sighed, staring up at the clear blue sky. “I don’t know, Tai. I wish I did, but I don’t. He’s… He’s something else, that’s for certain, but I can’t explain what drew me to him, only that something did. Whether that was the proximity, or the heat, or something else entirely, I don’t know.” James sighed again. “I just don’t know.”

“Hey,” said Tai, sounding tender, “don’t worry about it. What matters is that you’re happy.” He paused. “And that you’re safe. You are being safe, aren’t you?” he asked.

James rolled his eyes, a gesture that felt foreign on him. “Are you really asking me that question? You know how I am, Tai.”

“Yeah, I do,” said Tai. He sounded like he was half lost in memories, and James braced himself for what was next. “You know, I almost had you, at one point. Got you down to just your pants before you freaked.”

James sighed. “I know.” He remembered that night, and he wondered if Qrow had heard about it. Raven and Summer had given Tai the go ahead to court James, and James had allowed it, if only for a short while. Not necessarily because he cared about Tai romantically, but because it had been nice to be _wanted_ after so long of feeling completely undesirable.

“I kind of wonder, sometimes, but I wouldn’t ask Qrow. That’s…” Tai trailed off. “Even I’m not that much of an idiot.”

“I appreciate it,” murmured James. “Now, as lovely as this conversation about your ex-fuck buddy and brother-in-law is—”

“You really had to phrase it like that, didn’t you?” asked Tai, audibly wincing.

“—May I speak with my daughter?” asked James, not bothering to answer. Tai would live. If he wanted to make jokes, and comments, he could live with the image in his head.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll go get her,” said Taiyang. There was a shuffle on the phone as Taiyang passed it off to someone and a shout as he went looking for Penny. James waited, leaning against the wall, until he heard the shuffle of another person being handed the phone.

“Dad!” cheered Penny on the phone. James chuckled and nodded, even if Penny couldn’t see him. “I’m so glad you called. I have so much to tell you.”

“Really? Do go on,” said James, teasing slightly. Penny giggled and started up with her running monologue on what had happened in the last week. She, Ruby, and Yang had gone to the zoo and she’d gotten to see the alligators yesterday. They’d also gone for ice cream, and James wondered if he should talk to Taiyang about the amount of sugar she seemed to have consumed the night before. Hopefully Penny was brushing her teeth.

She’d also gotten to go to work with Glynda, who was teaching summer classes at the university, and apparently, the entire class had adored the little girl working alongside them with their English studies.

“I’m very good at analyzing Shakespeare,” said Penny, with the kind of wisdom only kids had. James bit the inside of his cheek and waited for her to continue, grinning broadly. “Auntie Glynda says she’s never met someone my age who knows that Romeo and Juliet isn’t a love story.” She sounded confused. “But it’s _so obvious_.”

James only hoped that Shakespeare’s chosen humour style wasn’t obvious to her as well. “Some things are obvious to others, Penny, you know that. Remember when we were working on the car last year and I knew all the problems but you didn’t?”

“Yeah,” said Penny, slowly.

“You remember what I told you?” asked James.

Penny sighed over the phone and James felt himself smile at her obvious over dramatic annoyance at his lesson. “You said that everyone has different stuff they’re good at and that I should be more understanding.”

“Yes, I did,” said James. He chuckled. “Don’t sound so glum, sweetheart, you know I’m just trying to help you see all sides of a problem.”

“I know,” said Penny, voice sing-song. “So, what are you and your new friend doing? Is Mr. Qrow still nice?”

James swallowed. There was something he needed to tell Penny, but he really wasn’t looking forward to it. “Well, there’s something I actually wanted to talk to you about.”

“Of course!” said Penny, cheery.

“Well, I was talking to Qrow, and…” James sighed. God, he didn’t want to do this to her, he knew it would hurt, but he also needed to be honest with her. “He may have accidentally found out you’re transgender.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line and James swallowed hard, feeling a lump form in his throat.

“Oh,” said Penny. Her voice cracked. James wondered if she’d start crying. His own eyes prickled in sympathy. He wanted nothing more than to be back home, so he could wrap his arms around her and comfort her if she did. Presuming she'd let him. “Did you… tell him?”

“No,” said James. Then, he corrected himself, “Not intentionally. I made a very small comment on how I used to call you nicknames a lot because we hadn’t figured out your name yet, and he managed to figure it out on his own.”

Penny made a humming noise that James couldn’t read. He waited, pressing his lips together.

He’d promised to always be honest with her. Had it really been worth it for this?

“What did he say?” asked Penny. Her voice wobbled and cracked, and James knew now that she was crying. It would start with the silent kind of tears, the kind that she always tried to hide from him, until the sobs finally broke free for her little lungs and spilled out to fill whatever room she was in.

James closed his eyes and leaned against the building, his own eyes prickling further until they burned. No, he thought, being honest wasn’t worth this. It wasn’t worth hurting her, but he also knew that he _had_ to tell her, no matter how much it hurt.

No matter how much he wanted to protect her from the rest of the world.

“He thinks you’re very cool,” said James, remembering Qrow’s smile in the car when he’d said the words to confirm he knew. “And that I am very good father for supporting you.”

Penny sniffled and the line rustled as she no doubt wiped her eyes with whatever she was wearing. “Okay,” she said. She sniffled again.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart, I really am,” said James.

“I believe you,” said Penny. She sniffled. “And I forgive you.”

“Are you sure?” asked James. “I don’t want you to feel you have to.” He swallowed, a pit in his stomach. “You’re allowed to be upset with me.”

“I am,” said Penny. “Upset and forgiving. I can be both.” There was a shout from the other end of the line, and James figured it was probably Ruby, by the pitch. “I’m gonna go play with Zwei now, is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” said James. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I promise,” said Penny. She sounded better now, stronger. “When I meet Mr. Branwen I can talk to him about this better. But I’m okay, really.” A pause, then, “Just… don’t do it again?”

“Of course, never again,” said James.

“Thank you, Daddy. I'm gonna go now. Bye! Love you,” said Penny.

“Love you too,” said James. He hung up the phone and sighed, putting his head in his hands, his phone pressed to his head as well. He’d screwed up, big time, letting that happen in the first place, but he was glad Penny wasn’t too upset. She obviously _was_ upset, and that was perfectly reasonable, but he had a feeling she’d be okay. James imagined she’d go talk to Ozpin about it when she felt up to it.

Part of the reason Ozpin was her main babysitter, actually, was because of everything they had in common.

With another sigh, James shoved his phone into his pocket and headed back into the motel, combing his hand over his head as he did so. In the distance, the horn of a train sounded, and James tensed, swallowing hard, as he pushed open the door and shoved it closed behind him.

Qrow looked up from where he was playing with his phone, shirtless and effortlessly gorgeous. He smiled at James, his bangs hanging in his eyes to increase the charm, and shoved himself upright, crossing his legs and blinking sleepily.

"Hey," he said. "You okay?" He cocked his head as the train horn sounded again and held out his hand to James. James didn't bother to answer. He simply took Qrow's hand and crawled onto the bed with him, pressing his face into the crook of Qrow's neck. He breathed in Qrow's scent, sweaty and musky as it was, and closed his eyes, not moving for a while.

James wasn't sure how long the two remained curled together, not moving, not speaking, but, eventually, he peeled himself off Qrow and cleared his throat, ears burning.

"We should get going," James said. "Last night, you know?" And he pretended not to notice the dejection in his voice as he pushed himself upright and walked to the bathroom.

"Yeah," said Qrow, voice soft and barely audible as James rested a hand on the bathroom door and went to close it. "Almost home." James grimaced and shut the door, wondering at Qrow's tone. Wondering if he was imagining the similar dejection in it.

He leaned against the door, head tilted back against it, and closed his eyes.

_What was he going to do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are love!


	21. The Hotel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's only one more night on the road. Let's make it count.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to start the end of this story. Which, honestly, is my favourite part.

If James thought the first day on the road with Qrow was awkward, it was nothing compared to how he felt about the last day and a half. The last full day on the road was the worst James had experienced in the entire trip. Qrow was tense, his entire body curled half away from James, as if he were expecting the worst. James wasn’t doing any better. His body _ached_ from how tightly he was holding himself, how tightly his shoulders were bunched together. Based on the headache that radiated from his jaw, into his ears, and behind his eyes, he’d been grinding his teeth as well.

Nothing was going to plan.

James had hoped that they could spend their last day together enjoying it, ignoring the inevitable tomorrow afternoon would bring. But Qrow couldn’t, and neither could he. No matter how much he wanted to ignore what was happening, no matter how much he wanted to pretend that they wouldn’t go back to their normal lives tomorrow, it was an impossible feat.

What was the saying? What happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas? James had a feeling, an awful, sick feeling, that it would hold true for this trip as well. What happened on spontaneous road trips _stayed_ on spontaneous road trips. Even if James wondered if, perhaps, it would be possible to keep it going. If, perhaps, they could find a way to translate what they _were_ into what James could only describe as the ‘real world’.

But he had no idea what they’d even _be_ in the real world. Friends? Acquaintances?

Lovers?

Qrow let out a soft sigh, jarring James from his internal strife. He gripped the wheel tighter, ignoring the way it creaked under his right hand, and narrowed his eyes at the road. They were coming into Carson City now, in Nevada, and James let his gaze roam across the old-style buildings, the brownstone apartments, and found his gaze pausing at a rather impressive hotel.

With a quiet, ‘fuck it’ to himself, he turned off the road they were on and headed toward the hotel.

“Where are we going?” asked Qrow, squinting out the windshield. “Jim?”

_Jim._

James was going to miss that too.

But no, right now, no more wallowing, no more hating the inevitable fallout of tomorrow. Tonight, he was going to keep a promise.

Tonight, was for celebration.

“I’m keeping my promise,” said James. He glanced over to Qrow as he pulled into the hotel parking lot. Qrow stared up at the hotel, eyes growing wider, before looking to James. “We’re staying at a hotel tonight.”

Qrow broke into a wide grin. “Fancy, isn’t it?” he asked. And oh, there was a slight twang to his voice that James wondered about. Something low and southern that made James bite the inside of his cheek to keep from saying anything.

“I did say we’d go somewhere fancy,” said James. He pulled into a parking space and leaned forward on the wheel, raising an eyebrow at Qrow. “Or would you rather go back to the motel?”

Qrow chuckled, shaking his head, already grabbing for the door. “ _Fuck_ no.” He looked from James, to the hotel, and back again. “Room service?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

James’ stomach growled in response. He’d been considering a restaurant, something fancy. Something that would force Qrow into whatever fancy clothes he could dig up in that backpack of his. Or maybe make them go shopping and let him dress Qrow up and give him some sort of present.

Or maybe just give _himself_ some sort of present. He had always loved a man in a nice outfit – dress shirts and pants _definitely_ made that list.

“You know what?” said James, flashing Qrow an equally bright smile. “Sure. Let’s have some fun.”

Together, the two got out of the car, grabbing their bags, and headed for the front door.

Inside, the front desk clerk looked up and smiled at them as they approached.

“Afternoon, gentlemen. What can I do for you?” she asked, clasping her hands together.

James smiled at the woman. In another situation, at another time, he might have been embarrassed by asking a question that would let her have an idea what his relationship with Qrow was, but right now, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He’d never had a chance to enjoy anything with a _bang_ , and he was planning on catching up with missed opportunities tonight, if possible.

He felt a little giddy, planning something over-the-top and enjoyable for them both. And a little shy, planning on trying to, well, get laid tonight. He and Qrow had had some good nights together, and he wanted one more. One more to keep in his memories.

But that was getting too sad.

“We’d like a suite, please,” said James. “With a king.”

The woman glanced at Qrow, then James, then broke into a wide smile. “Of course!” she said. “We actually have one available, on the top floor. Is that all right?” she asked.

“That’s perfect,” said James, smiling in return. “We’ll take it.”

The woman signed them in and handed them their keys, gesturing to the elevator. James and Qrow headed into the elevator and hit the button for the top floor, waiting for it to rise.

“A suite, huh?” asked Qrow, raising an eyebrow. He leaned against the wall of the elevator, arms folded loosely across his chest. “Damn, really going all out on me, here.”

“If there was a better hotel,” murmured James, crossing the space to Qrow and pressing one hand against the wall next to Qrow’s head. “Or a better restaurant, or something nicer, you’d get it.”

“Spoiling me, huh, Jim?” asked Qrow. His voice had gone low and rough, something soft in his eyes that James couldn’t quite place.

“You have no idea,” James replied, before closing the space between them and pressing his lips to Qrow’s. The reaction was as immediate as it was visceral. He groaned, wrapping his arms around James’ neck and tangling his fingers into James’ hair. James pressed Qrow further back into the wall, shifting so that his arm was on the wall and he was pressed, full body, against Qrow.

Their mouths moved together, James’ teeth finding Qrow’s lower lip and tugging until Qrow whimpered and hooked a leg around James’, hauling their hips flush together. He grinded up against James, panting quietly as he tilted his head to let James trail kisses down the side of his jaw and then down his throat.

The elevator dinged, the door opened, and the two came apart slowly. Qrow was flushed and red, staring at James with blown wide pupils and red lips.

“We should eat,” said James, his voice coming out hoarse.

Qrow swallowed hard and stared at James, his expression not faltering from its hunger. “I can think of better things to do.” He paused, then smirked, his expression shifting back to something more recognizable. “Or eat.”

James snorted, clapping a hand over his mouth. The elevator door started to close, and he threw out his arm to hold the door open. He shook his head and stepped out of the elevator, raising his eyebrows at Qrow.

“Coming?” he asked.

“God, I hope so,” said Qrow.

James’ face flushed. He ducked his head as he headed toward the suite, chewing on the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying something stupid. His boldness was temporary, a product of ‘fuck it’. Qrow’s boldness was genuine, bright, and impossible to compete with. Impossible to ignore or pretend was anything but one hundred percent _Qrow._

Qrow slipped up behind James as he fumbled with the key, Qrow’s fingers slipping into the waistband of his pants and stroking his hips – one metal, one flesh, but Qrow’s touch the same, regardless.

James shivered, his lead in their dance lost, and got the door open. He twisted around and backed into the room, grabbing Qrow by the front of his shirt and dragging him into a sweltering kiss. They stumbled together, finding a rhythm to their motions as Qrow kicked the door shut – the automatic lock clicking a moment later.

Then Qrow was shoving James back, into the bedroom and then onto the bed, and James’ knees hit, and then he was falling back, dragging Qrow down after him. The two tumbled together, James shifting his left hand to cup Qrow’s face and shifting his right hand to grope Qrow’s ass through his glove and through Qrow’s pants.

Now out of the elevator, their kissing turned less frantic. It shifted to open-mouthed kisses and the twist and tangles of their tongues as their mouths found one another over and over again. Hands roamed one another, Qrow’s fingers shifting from James’ hair to his face to trailing down his chest, undoing the buttons of James’ shirt and pulling it open, revealing the white tank top underneath.

In turn, James’ hands shifted to pull Qrow’s shirt off over his head, Qrow helping him by lifting his arms. Then they were together again, bodies flush and James tugging off his glove to grip Qrow the best he could. Sensation wasn’t perfect on his right side, but he could feel _enough_ for this. More than enough, in fact.

But, before they could go any further, both their stomachs growled, and the two pulled apart, foreheads resting together and both of them laughing.

“We need to eat,” said James, pointedly ignoring the way Qrow wriggled his hips against James’ and pouted at him. “Qrow.”

“Yeah, yeah. Gotta fuel up,” he said, rolling his eyes. Then, with a sly smile at James, he added, “Need something to work off with all this _activity._ ” He wriggled his hips again in time with his eyebrows and James rolled his eyes, feeling the heat rush to his cheeks again.

“Funny,” said James, drily, although he didn’t disagree. “Now get up.”

“I’m already up,” quipped Qrow, grinning wider. James gave him a flat look. Qrow snickered. “Fine,” he said, drawing out the word. He pushed off James, grinning further when James let his gaze slide up and down Qrow’s half-naked body. Qrow stretched his arms over his head, giving James a better look at the lean muscle that covered him, and at the small marks on his skin – some from James, others from life.

“Like what you see?” asked Qrow, raising an eyebrow.

“You know I do,” said James, voice low and eyes half-lidded. Qrow’s grin shifted to a smile, his mouth teasing but his eyes soft. A juxtaposition that made James’ heart pang as he wondered just what was going on in Qrow’s mind.

“So, what’s for dinner?” asked Qrow, tucking his arms behind his head. “Room service?”

“Room service,” agreed James, rolling across the bed and snagging the menu from the end table. He rolled back over to find Qrow climbing across the bed and dropping into his lap once again, straddling his hips and grinning at James as he loosely draped his arms over James’ shoulders.

“So?” asked Qrow, shifting closer so that the two were nose-to-nose. “What do you want to eat?”

James swallowed, his eyes sliding up and down Qrow’s body appreciatively before settling on Qrow’s eyes. The red seemed to twinkle at him, half amused and half something else, something softer.

Something James didn’t dare try and place.

“I dunno,” whispered James, words half against Qrow’s lips. “What do you want?”

Silence, not heavy, nor hungry, but something else entirely. Something as soft as the look in Qrow’s eyes and the pain in James’ heart.

“You,” replied Qrow. He reached up and cupped James’ face with one hand, his thumb skimming just under James’ eye. “Just you.”

James swallowed, staring at Qrow, letting his own expression be as naked and vulnerable as Qrow’s.

Quietly, he replied, “Me too.”

He pulled Qrow close and the two fell back onto the bed together, James’ right arm around Qrow’s lower back, Qrow’s hands cupping James’ face and tangling in his fingers, and their kisses and touches as tender as their words.

The menu fell to the floor, forgotten.

They could always order later, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and constructive criticisms are welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Tumblr](http://anipendragon.tumblr.com/) for bonus content, periodic ficlets, and other cool stuff.


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